


Feminabeata's Second Anniversary Anthology

by feminabeata



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, First Dates, Hanahaki Disease, and fluff all around, aquarium dates, high school rivals, sequels, vampires again, woogyu daddies, woollim leaders drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-19
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-06-03 04:59:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6597715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feminabeata/pseuds/feminabeata
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To celebrate the close of my second year on AO3, I collected prompts from my ask.fm, and I'm filling them here. <br/>Thank you to everyone who submitted! And a thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of my readers. You guys are amazing, and I hope you know how much I appreciate you!</p><p>(also I'm tagging everything right now so you know what's to come)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ring Around the Rosy

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Myungsoo has hanahaki disease, which is odd because he's almost positive he's not in love with anyone in particular.

They say you can sense it coming. That you spend days dreading that it will happen until it final does. How can you not sense you falling before you hit the ground, and hit it hard?

However, Myungsoo could be bit oblivious to things. And recently, he’d been so busy, not with work but with making the most out of the small break that he had. He had just gotten back from Japan when it happened: petals on his pillow. More spilled from his mouth with a hacking cough. At first, Myungsoo thought the red petals were blood. He thought that he was coughing out his precious life into his hands. He thought he was dying. But he wasn’t. Myungsoo was in love.

But he had no idea with whom.

And so when he finally realized that he was holding rose petals in his hands, Myungsoo stared at them with a puzzled expression. Since when was he in love? Was there something that happened recently that won him over? How long had he been suffering through this one-sided love? And above all, why wasn’t he loved back?

He buried his face in his hands and in the petals as he began coughing again. How was he supposed to get rid of it, if he had no idea that he was in love?

“Myungsoo, is everything okay?”

It was a just a voice and a knock at his bedroom door, but Myungsoo reacted as if someone had stepped inside. He flopped over the petals and hurriedly shoved them underneath his sheets.

“I’m fine,” he answered with a wheeze. He tried to stifle the cough, but he was choking himself by trying to force the petals back down. Myungsoo had no choice but to heave them up.

The door handle jingled. It was locked, so no one could get in, even if they tried. “You don’t sound fine. Myungsoo, open the door!”

He didn’t need to be told twice. Myungsoo was obedient, and there was no sense in hiding it from her. The truth would out sooner or later.

“M-mom,” he called to her as he opened the door. There was a trail of rose petals from his bed to the door. His mother’s eyes grew round with fright as they followed the path down to her son’s bare feet. “Everything’s fine. I’m just in love.”

* * *

“I don’t know how you can be so calm about this,” his mother remarked. They were now sitting at the table in his kitchen. His mother had stopped by the apartment to drop off some food that she made for him. She’d been doing it more recently ever since the members got places of their own, probably just to check up on her son and to see how he was doing since the members weren’t there to do it anymore. It wasn’t like Myungsoo was incapable of living on his own, but a mother’s heart is constantly uneasy when she knows that her child is completely alone. And now she had genuine cause for concern. If she hadn’t caught her son hacking out his lungs, would he had ever told her? Told anyone?

Myungsoo looked up at his mother with his chin resting on the table. “I,” he paused for a second to think it over. “I don’t know what to think about it yet,” he admitted. “It’s too new of a feeling.”

“That feeling,” his mother started, clutching at her heart as she spoke. “We can remove it and get rid of this disease.” She reached over and patted his hand. “Let’s go to the hospital.”

Myungsoo sat up straight and tilted his head to the side as he gave her a half smile. “I’m not even sure how I feel or for who,” he argued. “Can we remove the disease if I don’t know that?” _Do I want to?_ He held that question in, reserving it for himself. He was curious. He wanted to explore this feeling further, and he wanted to at least find out who it was that his heart yearned for. _I don’t want to get rid of it. Not yet._

His mother remained stern. “We can try.”

* * *

“It might be sympathetic,” the doctor offered as an explanation. His mother had taken him to the hospital, just for a consultation and to set an appointment a month from now for the surgery, when the disease would start to suffocate him. “I’ve seen this before in very compassionate people,” the doctor continued. “If he sees someone that he cares dearly for caught in an unrequited love, it’s possible that he could show signs of the disease. That might explain why he doesn’t know who he loves.” The doctor then paused to straighten his coat, and Myungsoo’s mother tightened her grip on his hand. “If that’s the case, we should go ahead with the surgery as soon as we can.”

“Would the person have the disease too?” Myungsoo asked. “My friend who’s caught in an unrequited love?”

“Yes,” the doctor answered curtly. “But it would be too risky to try and solve your friend’s problem first. What if he never comes forward? What if he’s in love with the wrong person? No, we shouldn’t wait if that’s the case.”

“But,” Myungsoo blurted out, but then he bit his tongue holding his objections back. But if his friend was in love (and he had a sneaking suspicious of who it was), Myungsoo wanted him to be loved back. He deserved it. After everything he has been through, his friend deserved to be loved in return. And Myungsoo wanted to help that happen if he could.

Myungsoo stood up from his chair and bowed to the doctor. “Thank you for your time, doctor.”

“My office will call you next week in case your condition progresses or changes,” the doctor notified him.

“I’ll let you know if anything happens,” Myungsoo said as he turned to leave.

But the doctor had one last warning to issue him: “Remember, Myungsoo-ssi, you have to be honest. It could be a matter of life and death.”

Myungsoo turned back to look at the doctor. He smiled warmly. “I’ll be honest. I promise.”

* * *

Once his mother finally left his side, Myungsoo picked up the phone and dialed the last number that he had called. He picked up on the second ring. His friend always did.

“We need to talk,” Myungsoo told him. “I’ll meet you at your place when your schedules are done.”

* * *

“I should’ve known that you’d be the type to barf up rose petals. That’s so cheesy. It’s so stereotypically romantic. It’s so you,” Sungyeol teased as he picked up a petal from the table and played with it in between his fingers.

Myungsoo looked at the other with wide eyes. “What? You aren’t doing this too?” he asked, half-shocked.

Sungyeol let the petal drop from his fingertips and he pointed to himself. “Me?” he blubbered. “Why would I…” he let that question dangle in the air as his eyes darted all over Myungsoo’s face and the room. The kid. Sungyeol probably suspected that this was a trick, a hidden camera. But Myungsoo couldn’t have been more serious.

“The doctor said that it might be sympathetic,” he revealed to the other. “Because,” he took a deep breath and let the rest of it out with a quick exhale “…I don’t know whom I’m in love with.”

Sungyeol’s jaw went slack. “So you thought I was the one,” he mumbled, barely moving his lips.

“Eung,” Myungsoo grunted with a nod.

There were a few people Myungsoo loved on the planet with his entire heart, and his members made up most of that number. And of his members, Lee Sungyeol seemed the most likely to develop the hanahaki disease. The members would joke about it all the time, much to Sungyeol’s dismay. But the boy fell in love hard and fast with everything in life, whether it be with a hobby, a toy, or a person. But he also fell out of love quickly, which was his saving grace from ever catching the disease. Myungsoo had assumed that Sungyeol’s luck had finally run out, and he’d fallen into a love that he couldn’t shake off so easily.

Plus Myungsoo had noticed the lingering glances, Sungyeol’s voice trembling with excited, and his whole body practically vibrating when the other was near. Sungyeol was in love. Myungsoo knew his best friend well enough to know that.

“That,” Sungyeol spoke, referring to his own situation. “That isn’t one-sided. She loves me back. I was going to tell you once it was official, but we’ve only been on one date. I’m sorry.”

“Oh,” Myungsoo muttered as he slunk into his chair. He wanted to be happy for the other, he really did. But the ‘congratulations’ that fell from his lips sounded forced. He couldn’t help it. His mind was racing a mile a minute. If it wasn’t Sungyeol…was it someone else? Myungsoo felt his chest tighten. He pounded against it with his fist as he coughed up petals all over Sungyeol’s table.

Sungyeol’s lips twitched in disgust, but he didn’t yell at the other. He knew that Myungsoo couldn’t help it. Instead he dragged his chair over to Myungsoo’s side and began patting him on the back, hoping to help the petals fall from the back of his throat. “Myungsoo, did this start after you came back from Japan?” Sungyeol asked in an apprehensive voice.

“Yea,” Myungsoo wheezed. He put his fingers in his mouth and began to scrape the petals from his tongue. This was the worst fit that he’s had yet.

“Do you think it could be him?”

“Hm?” Myungsoo grunted because he was unable to speak.

“Do you think that you love _him_?” Sungyeol rephrased the question.

The coughing stopped. Myungsoo raised his head, staring at the rose petals coating the table. There was one other person who could be as cheesy and romantic as Myungsoo was. Maybe roses were a more fitting flower than he thought.

_I couldn’t be in love with him. Could I?_

* * *

“Myungsoo-ssi? This is Dr. Yoon’s office. Has there been any progress in your condition?”

And in all honesty, later in the week, Myungsoo’s heart began to hurt as if he were in love. A sense of longing kept tugging and pulling at it, wearing him out. It was bittersweet, this feeling. Although Myungsoo had never felt so exhausted or alone, he found himself smiling frequently and humming to a happy tune. There was a spark of hope in his heart that things would turn out for the best, that his feelings would be returned. A sense of anticipation laced his every move. If he acted like this, would he seem more loveable? If he said this, would he make the other’s heartbeat faster like his own, pounding away inside of his chest?

Even the rose petals which trailed behind his steps, they seemed like a bouquet, slowly forming petal by petal. And once it fully formed, he’d give that bouquet, his heart, to his love.

All of this seemed beautiful to him. Love was beautiful.

“Eung. It’s not sympathetic. I’m the one in love,” he told the secretary over the phone.

“Is that so?” the secretary replied. “Congratulations and good luck with your love,” her voice sounded wooden, as if she had said this several hundred times before. “And if things don’t work out, your appointment still stands on the 5th.”

Myungsoo decided to take her ‘well wishes’ no matter how forced they sounded. “Thank you. I’ll do my best.”

* * *

It had been a week and a day after he developed the disease when Myungsoo ran into Woohyun again. The elder had been busy filming for his drama and preparing for his solo debut, so he wasn’t able to meet with Myungsoo anytime sooner. But he knew about the hanahaki, all of the members did. Sungyeol had let it slip to Sunggyu, and once Sunggyu found out, that was the end of Myungsoo’s little secret. All of the members had been sending him words of encouragement and advice through their group chat, one in particular, the one who’d always given Myungsoo strength when he needed it most.

“Myungsoo-yah!” Woohyun called out to the other. He was on the other side of the street, waving frantically to Myungsoo as he waited for the light to change. And once it did, Woohyun scurried to the other side of the street and enveloped Myungsoo in a warm hug. The impact of his hug forced the air out of Myungsoo’s lungs and a couple of petals flew from his mouth and onto the elder’s coat. Woohyun pulled away from the other and gave him a smile. “How are you holding up?”

“Fine,” Myungsoo answered.

“I swear, the person who doesn’t love you back is crazy,” Woohyun said with a sneer as the two made their way into the restaurant. “Who couldn’t love a handsome face like this?” he joked, grabbing at Myungsoo’s chin and shaking it. Myungsoo laughed as he batted the other’s hand away. However, it was as Myungsoo was laughing when Woohyun’s mood turned serious. “Aren’t you going to tell hyung who it is?”

Myungsoo thought about it as he sat down at the table and he watched Woohyun slip into the seat right across from him. He now knew with 100% certainty: “It isn’t you.”

* * *

It was around the third week when Myungsoo figured out whom he loved. And when he did, he wanted to hit his head against the wall for being so stupid (and maybe he did a few times). It had become obvious to him when he’d wait by the phone for his hyung’s call, the only one to call him everyday (mostly everyone else messaged him or met him in person). The calls were short and had always given Myungsoo a sense of elation at the end. Myungsoo had assumed that the other had just lifted his spirits. He notice that his heart would swell at the sound of him saying ‘hi’ or ‘I love you,’ which his hyung did at the end of every call.

But Myungsoo hadn’t seen him in weeks, not since before he left for Japan. His hyung was at home, visiting his family. And familial matters kept him there.

Sadly, knowing made Myungsoo’s heart hurt all the more. The fact that this love was unrequited, unreturned hit him like a train. Myungsoo felt insecure. He didn’t know how to act around the other. He stopped picking up his calls. What if Myungsoo let it slip out? His love wouldn’t be returned. He knew it.

After all, Myungsoo couldn’t give his hyung what he wanted. His hyung wanted a family, enough children to fill a whole house, and he wanted them soon, before his father’s condition worsened. A grandpa should meet the grandchildren of his only son. And being a male, Myungsoo couldn’t do that for Dongwoo. Not even if he wanted to.

* * *

On the 1st, Myungsoo confirmed his appointment for the surgery. The disease would be cured along with this stifling love, and Myungsoo could live life again as if nothing ever happened. He wanted to return back to the treasured hyung-dongsaeng relationship that he had with Dongwoo. Dongwoo would be there to give him unending support and care, whenever he needed it. And Myungsoo would look after and rein in Dongwoo whenever he’d get out of hand, just like they used to without this pesky love to get in the way. It would be for the best.

“You should confess,” Sungyeol told him after Myungsoo got off the phone with the doctor’s office.

“No, no,” Myungsoo denied with a shy shake of his head. “It’ll be better if the person doesn’t know.”

“It’s a member, isn’t it?”

Myungsoo stared at him, slack jawed. “N-no,” he stammered.

“I knew it!” Sungyeol cheered, leaning back into his chair. “You’re being too secretive about this. It _is_ a member! You, the hopeless romantic, would rather get rid of love than risk hurting the team. Infinite has to be infinite and go on forever. Aish, you’re so predictable. I bet I even know who it is.”

Myungsoo rolled his eyes. “I told you. It’s not Woo—”

“It’s Dongwoo-hyung, isn’t it?” Sungyeol cut him off. Myungsoo sputtered into a cough as a cloud of rose petals flew out of his mouth. That was all the affirmation that Sungyeol needed. “I knew it. I’m sharp,” he praised himself, tapping a long finger against his head. “If it’s Dongwoo, that’s all the more reason to confess,” Sungyeol argued. “He loves you too.”

Myungsoo pursed his lips and shook his head defiantly. “No, if he did, I wouldn’t be like this,” he retorted. He couldn’t hold it back anymore. He bent over and began heaving petals onto the floor.

Sungyeol sighed as he got up and forced Myungsoo to sit down. “You should be honest,” he urged him as he got up to grab a nearby broom. He began to sweep up the petals, grumbling as he did so.

Sungyeol’s words harkened Myungsoo’s mind back to the doctor’s words when this whole ordeal started: “Remember, Myungsoo-ssi, you have to be honest. It could be a matter of life and death.”

Myungsoo certainly felt like he was dying now, and there was now blood coating some of the petals. And Dongwoo, Myungsoo already felt horrible for keeping this secret from him. He and Dongwoo shared everything and bared everything to each other. Dongwoo had even trusted Myungsoo enough to pose nude for him when Myungsoo wanted to experiment with that kind of photography (and why didn’t Myungsoo think he was attracted to him?). Dongwoo would be disheartened to know that he was the cause of Myungsoo’s suffering, but the elder would still rather know than not. And Dongwoo, with endless amount of understanding, he would never hold it against Myungsoo if he loved him. He’d know that Myungsoo couldn’t control his own heart.

So tomorrow, Myungsoo was going to go to Guri, and he was going to tell Dongwoo the truth, no matter how much it would hurt.

* * *

The Jang’s restaurant looked different since the last time Myungsoo had visited. They had moved things around and put up new decorations. But the one thing that hadn’t changed were the flock of fans that visited the establishment. Whispers grew into loud murmurs as Myungsoo stepped inside. He could feel their eyes and cameras trained on him, but his own eyes searched for that face he’d been wanting to see for nearly a month. And then he found it, that toothy grin overtaking that small face. Myungsoo used to call him a dinosaur for that veracious smile; now, however, he seemed like anything but. He was just Dongwoo. The man that Myungsoo loved.

“Myungsoo-yah, you came!” Dongwoo ran up to the other and gave him a hug. And even when the hug ended, the elder still wouldn’t let him go. Dongwoo’s arm wrapped around his waist as he led him into the private room, and Myungsoo’s arm was around his.

This warmth, like an old blanket, it was so familiar and comforting. Myungsoo missed this. He had missed Dongwoo. And he remembered missing Dongwoo in Japan. There were several sights that he wanted to share with the elder and stories too. Myungsoo had also bought Dongwoo several toys from Japan that the elder had requested as souvenirs. It was no wonder why the disease had started after that trip. He’d thought of Dongwoo nearly the whole time although he had gone over with Woohyun.

“How are you feeling? How have things been?” Dongwoo asked as the two of them sat down at the table.

Myungsoo couldn’t contain it anymore, and while he was still riding this high that Dongwoo had given him, he wanted to seize the chance and finally confess: “I _really_ missed you, hyung. I’m so happy to see you. I love you.”

Dongwoo grinned, but it was restrained. “I know. I love you too,” he chirped back with a sharp nod.

Myungsoo huffed. “No, I really do!” He chewed on his lip and his gaze fell to his lap. His confidence was slowly dissolving, but he still needed to do this. “You’re the reason why I’m like this.”

“Oh thank god! I was going crazy!”

Myungsoo snapped his head back up to see Dongwoo roaring with laughter. He cocked his head in confusion. Was the elder playing with him right now?

Dongwoo fanned himself as he tried to come down from his high and tried to regain his composure, but his movements were still overexcited and jittery. Myungsoo was wondering what had gotten into him. He hadn’t seen Dongwoo this unwound ever since he had a crush on… _Oh wait a second._

“I’ve been going crazy since I got your text this morning,” Dongwoo announced. He let out a great exhale. “Am I going to get it too? Will I be coughing up petals tomorrow? Should Myungsoo and I get the surgery together? We could’ve had matching scars!” he rambled. “But this,” he gestured between Myungsoo and himself. “This was the best outcome that I could’ve hoped for. I love you, Myungsoo.”

Myungsoo still sat frozen in his spot, slowly processing everything that had just happened. His hand drifted up to his mouth as he thought. He hadn’t coughed up a petal all day. He’d been so focused on confessing to Dongwoo and rehearsing it in his head that he hadn’t noticed. He was cured. He was loved. Jang Dongwoo loved him back.

“Really?” was all he could say.

“Eung.” Dongwoo nodded empathetically. “I think it was a long time coming for us,” he began, distracted as he fiddled with the table settings. There was a faint blush painting his cheeks. Myungsoo smirked as he noticed that. It was because of him. He was doing this to Dongwoo. And Myungsoo himself was probably a blushing mess. He was fighting the urge to hide his face in his hands as Dongwoo continued his speech. “We’ve always gotten along well and cared for each other. Then there was that. The attraction thing. I think it was hard to notice because we were always like this, always close. And we just needed time to grow as people before we could grow together as a…pair. Anyway, I think this will be a good thing. You and I, right?”

Myungsoo smiled wider than he had in the past month. He slipped his hand across the table and laid it over Dongwoo’s, who immediately flipped his hand over to hold the other’s. “This is perfect.” And it was worth the thousands of rose petals that Myungsoo gave for it. This love was even more beautiful.


	2. Sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yadong's fluffy first date

Howon hasn’t been on a first date in a while. Scratch that. Howon hasn’t been on a date in a _long_ while. Or at least he thinks he hasn’t. Occasionally, he’d catch a drink with a coworker after work was done. That wasn’t dating though, not really. That was just drinking. Besides there was no attraction involved on those nights (or at least not on his part). But tonight was different. There was tons of attraction, both on Howon’s part, and on _his_. ‘His’ meaning Jang Dongwoo, probably the only man in the country who could break Howon’s dry spell and thaw his cold heart. Howon could already feel the ice surrounding his heart chip away every time that Dongwoo smiled, which was a lot because Dongwoo was a naturally cheerful person. There was probably only one corner of Howon’s heart left, still frozen over. And that was what tonight was for: to get rid of that last icy patch once and for all.

It wasn’t that Howon was one of those heartless monsters that exist in dramas and novels who were magically turned human by the healing touch of a special person. He was just a workaholic and a perfectionist. It was that perfectionist touch that made Howon work long hours and work himself to the bone. Since his focus was solely on his work, Howon didn’t realize how callous he had become towards others. Sure he was still polite and courteous, but no one could ever grow too close to him. Howon didn’t even notice when they tried. He thought that they were just being nice and took their kindness without returning friendship. Because of this, Howon hadn’t noticed how cold that his heart had become.

But one day a ray of sunshine burst through his office doors, spreading its warmth. Howon was the youngest head editor that the magazine has ever had, and Dongwoo was a temporary worker from another department at the company, who just so happened to be the fastest and most accurate English translator from his department (or maybe even in the entire company). Howon’s health and fitness magazine drew articles and studies from around the world, and so having an apt translator was necessary. And having that translator be Jang Dongwoo was an added perk. Along with his skillset, Dongwoo brought life and energy to health and fitness magazine (ironically), but it was hard to find someone with a higher energy level than Jang Dongwoo. And it was harder to find someone more personable.

After only two days, Dongwoo knew the name of everyone in the office, and if they had any pets, he knew their names as well. At the end of his first week, Dongwoo himself was practically the pet of the office. He was everyone’s favorite. He was playing with the coworkers and already developed a rapport with them.

Howon watched from the inside of his corner office in amazement. He has had his secretary for a year now, but he still called her by the wrong name. Out of habit, ‘Jin’ always sprang from his mouth before ‘Myungeun’ would. When he was lucky, he would catch himself as he was sounding out the ‘j’ and morph the sound into another word. But it didn’t fool _Myungeun_ at all. She’d look up at him with a suspicious glare before turning it into a bright smile and wishing him a ‘good morning’ in return.

But Dongwoo didn’t stop at making friends with his temporary colleagues. He made a friend out of Howon as well. It somehow happened without Howon even noticing it. Perhaps it started with Dongwoo buying Howon sandwiches whenever Howon decided to work through lunch. “I won’t allow you to skip a meal. You need to keep your energy up so that you can lead us well, boss,” Dongwoo had said as he forcibly shoved a sandwich and drink into Howon’s hands. Howon had supposed that the other was just sucking up to the boss, so he didn’t think much of it. Nor did he start to think _more_ of it when it was happening nearly everyday (Howon often worked through lunch and then after a while of Dongwoo being there, he expected the translator to burst into his office with a sandwich in hand).

Howon, however, did start to wonder more about the man when Dongwoo started to eat in Howon’s office with him. “It’s not good to always eat alone,” Dongwoo said with his mouth full after taking a large bite. “Meals are a time when people come together, take a break from life, talk, and become closer. You shouldn’t just eat to live. You should enjoy it! Sharing food with each other is a sign that you are close. Can I have a sip of that?” And before Howon could even answer, Dongwoo grabbed his tea and took a large gulp. The translator chuckled and placed it back in front of the editor. “Delicious.”

Was Howon going crazy or did food actually taste better now? Maybe it was because he was finally tasting the food rather than scarfing it down. The company wasn’t bad either. Howon had much in common with Dongwoo, important things like values and beliefs. Dongwoo was a hard worker too, but above all, he strived to achieve a balance within his life. As for Howon, his life had become greatly unbalanced lately. It was starting to become more evident.

“Hoya, you should come out with us tonight,” Dongwoo urged the editor as the rest of the office was about to go out an drink to celebrate the end of the work week.

Howon stopped dead in his tracks and cocked an eyebrow. “Hoya?”

“Yah!” Myungeun hissed at Dongwoo. She hit him with her clutch before using it to cover her face, growing redder by the second. “You can’t call him that to his face,” she whispered harshly before running off to join the others already leaving the office (and running away from her curious boss).

“What’s this Hoya?” Howon asked again, stepping closer to Dongwoo but looking around the other to see his staff stealing glances at them.

“Aye, it was the slip of the tongue,” Dongwoo confessed and then slapped his mouth lightly as if to reprimand it. “It’s what the Three Musketeers call you because they think you’re pretty like the flower.”

“Who? The Three Musketeers?” Howon only got more confused as he talked to the other. It was as if Dongwoo was talking in code. And pretty? Him?

“Yea, Sujeong, Jiae, and Myungeun,” Dongwoo replied, counting off each name as he said it with his fingers. “They’re the only three women in the office, so they’ve become quite close.”

“And you’ve become close with them too,” Howon pointed out.

Dongwoo nodded while he rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s a habit. I grew up with only sisters, so I get along with them well,” he explained.

“Ah, I remember. You have two noonas,” Howon recalled.

Dongwoo jumped up excitedly, startling the other, and snapped his fingers. “Aha! So you do remember things!” he exclaimed.

The editor frowned deeply. “What do you mean? Of course I do,” he argued.

Dongwoo leaned in closer (Howon leaned back a little) and spoke in a low voice, “Word around the office is that you have a memory problem.”

That made Howon get closer to the other. He didn’t believe his ears. He laid a hand over his heart and leaned in. “Me?”

Dongwoo nodded and cast a glance behind him. Their coworkers were still crowded around the door waiting for them. Dongwoo must’ve felt burdened by that because he spoke quickly and lowly, “You keep calling Myungeun by the wrong name. And you keep acting like Jiae is the maknae, when she’s older than half the staff.” At that, Howon blinked dumbly and then his eyes searched for Jiae in the crowd at the door. _She’s old? But she looks like she had just graduated from college_. Howon supposed that he’d have to stop asking Jiae to go on coffee runs for the office. _She must’ve endured a lot_. Dongwoo wasn’t finished, “And you accidentally locked Sunggyu in the office last week, when he told you he’d be staying late to finish the report.”

“I…what?” Now Howon couldn’t believe that for a second.

Dongwoo nodded. “Yea, that’s why he’s been giving you the silent treatment all week,” he revealed.

“He has?” Howon asked. Now he tried to find Sunggyu in the crowd, and it wasn't hard. Sunggyu’s sharp eyes were staring daggers at him. Howon gulped. And he thought that he was having such a pleasant week because Sunggyu wasn’t bothering him constantly with small talk.

“Do you…” Dongwoo then paused and cocked his head. He had reservations but continued anyways, “Excuse me for asking this. I know it’s out-of-line because you’re my superior, but I’m just a temp…do you notice anything that happens in this office?”

“I do,” Howon replied curtly. But it mostly in terms of work and how his staff performed. Not much more beyond that though. He wasn’t about to admit that to Dongwoo. The temp had made his point, and Howon acknowledged. He didn’t know his staff at all.

“Ah okay. Sorry,” Dongwoo stammered and lowered his head. He felt guilty for overstepping his bounds. His hands gripped tightly at his messenger bag, wringing it nervously. He then nodded as he backed away, joining the others. Howon’s stomach sank as he watched the other shirk away. He was finally noticing the effect that he had on other people. He turned them away.

But before he turned around fully, Dongwoo asked, “Are you coming, sir?”

“Yes,” Howon answered automatically. Everybody by the door gasped in shock. Their boss had never joined them before. Howon had only been in the habit of drinking with Kwangsuk from advertising, but he never drank with his entire staff before. And Howon was quite shocked himself that he agreed so readily. It was a slip of the tongue, like calling Myungeun ‘Jin’ or asking Jiae to take coffee orders. Howon had said it without a second thought.

But he was glad that he did. He had a wonderful time that night and felt bad for declining all those times before. The spirits of his staff seemed high with him around (and alcohol). And they were genuinely nice people. Howon had suspected that to be true, but now he knew. He liked them.

But above all Howon felt bad because the next week was Dongwoo’s last week, and he could’ve been doing this the whole time, not just drinking with Dongwoo, but having more than just a short conversation over a quick lunch. Out of everyone there that night, Howon liked Dongwoo the most. The temp was truly like the sun, and towards the end of the night, all of his colors burst and shone brightly, spectacularly like a sunset, especially since the alcohol made him glow all the more. But then the sun had set, and Dongwoo feel asleep at the table. Apparently the man couldn’t drink very well. But now he was like the moon, still bright yet serene, sleeping peacefully although he was surrounded by coworkers who were excitedly shouting. Like a lunatic, Howon felt himself drawn to that moon. So he volunteered to put Dongwoo in a taxi, after waking him up slightly, and saw to it that he got home safely.

The following Monday, Howon had planned on asking Dongwoo to stay on with the staff, telling him that he was an invaluable asset to the team. But his tongue slipped again: “Do you want to go out with me?” He had planned on asking Dongwoo to stay on board with the staff, but when he saw the temp walk through the doors with that sunshine-like smile, Howon realized that he wanted Dongwoo to stay by his side instead.

And Dongwoo was shocked, but he still stuttered out an ‘okay.’ To which Howon stammered back ‘That’s good’ before marching back into the office, locking his door close, and burying his face in his hands out of embarrassment. What had he done?

Apparently he had done something right down the line because Dongwoo appeared attracted to him as well. He didn’t brush off Howon’s question but pursued it at the end of the day, asking the editor when he wanted to go out.

“How about tomorrow night?” Howon suggested. Luckily Dongwoo agreed to that. Howon needed more time to prepare. He hadn’t dated in years. He hadn’t a clue what to do.

What he decided on was a rather expensive Italian restaurant. He wanted to show the other how stable he was financially. He could support the other. Wasn’t that what first dates for? Showing off?

Howon shivered suddenly while waiting at the table for his date to show. Yes, first dates were for displaying who you were, what you could offer, but Howon wanted something else out of this date: to thaw his heart with Dongwoo’s warm touch. And maybe that could happen tonight.

Dongwoo came into the restaurant and waved frivolously at Howon after catching sight of him. Normally, Howon would’ve been embarrassed, but now he was just relieved that Dongwoo came. The sun was rising. Howon stood up from his seat to accept him and help him to his seat. Dongwoo’s mouth was already running at the speed of light, telling the other about everything that had happened to him since they last saw each other only two hours ago. He had interesting encounters since then, and Dongwoo had been accosted by his temporary coworkers who had all heard Howon’s question that morning (which wasn’t too hard as he kind of said it loudly in the middle of the office). And the Three Musketeers had a lot of grievances that they wanted Dongwoo to ‘casually’ bring up (apparently Howon rarely said ‘good morning’ to Sujeong whose small form was always hidden behind the wall of her cubicle). And Howon was glad to hear them all. Dongwoo was probably also the only person on the planet that could make a story about choosing his socks for tonight sound interesting (or was that Howon just being smitten).

But when Howon took hold of the conversation, of course it took a turn for the work: “Why are you just working as a secretary in accounting? Your talent is wasted there.”

Dongwoo heaved a great sigh before answering, “They were the only ones to hire me.”

“Why?” Howon asked.

Dongwoo started to play with his napkin nervously. “I didn’t go to the best college. And…I know that I don’t look like the most competent applicant,” he replied.

Howon nodded shortly. He could understand why, and had his own reservations about Dongwoo when he first came in. Even now, Dongwoo could barely sit still, and he wasn’t speaking clearly, tripping over some of his words. Howon could imagine how a nervous Dongwoo would perform in an interview. But now he could understand Dongwoo’s language perfectly and found his random motions charming (yea, Howon was definitely smitten). “Those people were wrong,” he responded. He had been wrong too.

“Eh,” Dongwoo muttered, lowering his gaze shyly and lightly hitting the other. Howon smiled broadly and felt his own cheeks grow warm. Crap, he was getting shy, and nervous too. Howon then sat up straighter in his seat, stiffly. He tried to calm his mind and the butterflies flitting around in his stomach. But the more that he tried to calm himself down, the more fixated he became on how absolutely not-calm he was, how the other affected him so. He was spiraling into a dark hole of thoughts and overanalyzing everything. _Hands, what do I normally do with my hands when I eat. I don’t use both of them, do I?_

“Hoya-ssi?”

“Hm?”

“I asked you what were you thinking about,” Dongwoo said. Howon had accidentally tuned him out, focusing on his own worries. “You’re frowning, like this.” Dongwoo pointed in between his eyebrows where there were deep creases because he furrowed them severely.

Howon raised his hand to that spot on his own face. Indeed, the wrinkles were there. With a sigh, he relaxed his face and some tension. “Ah, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it,” he tried to dismiss it.

“Hoya-ssi,” Dongwoo called to him in a lecturing tone. “This is a date. Stop thinking about work. And let’s have fun. Ah, let’s eat!” he exclaimed as their meals were being placed in front of them.

Unknowingly, Howon frowned again. _But I wasn’t thinking about work._

* * *

After dinner, Dongwoo suggested that they walk down the streets for awhile to digest the food. And Howon was grateful that the other wanted the date to continue. That must’ve meant that it was going well, really well because Dongwoo’s hand snuck down and wrapped around his as they walked. It was unconscious because the hand slipped away a few seconds later when Dongwoo realized where it was, but the skinship was more than welcomed to Howon. In fact, he reached back for Dongwoo’s retreating hand and held it tightly. It was more than okay.

But then Howon started to grow anxious again. Dongwoo was ordering food from a stand for them to eat, a lot of food. Was dinner not enough? Howon thought back. While it had been expensive, the portions were rather small. And while Howon was ruminating on this, Dongwoo tugged on their conjoined hands for Howon to sit down next to him. “I’ll pay,” he offered and then accepted the plates from the ahjumma who worked the stand.

Howon sat down and stared at the dishes in front of him. He hadn’t eaten at a stand like this since he was a student. After that, life just got busy, and he became more concerned with his health.

“Eat it,” Dongwoo lightly commanded, shoving a fishcake in front of Howon’s face. And when he took a bite, Dongwoo cooed, “Aang.” And then he continued eating himself.

Howon picked at the food in front of him. He’d probably have to work out more later to counteract all that he was eating today. He tried to find places where he could add reps, how much longer should he run. Should he maybe start tonight when he gets home? He thought of this all the while stuffing his face because, damn, he forgot how good this food tasted. It would be well worth the extended work out.

But then he felt a strong flick to the side of his head. He whipped his head to see Dongwoo grinning tentatively at him. “Stop thinking. You’re frowning again,” he revealed.

“I wasn’t,” Howon immediately argued, but he could feel the tension releasing from his face.

“Liar liar liar!” Dongwoo sang while doing a cutesy hand-motion above his head. It was probably some girl group song, Howon was sure of it, but he hadn’t paid attention to those groups after his time in the army was done.

But he knew it was drawing attention from others. He grabbed both of Dongwoo’s wrists and pulled his arms down. “Yah, people are watching,” he hissed. And Dongwoo chuckled happily and opened up his mouth, probably to sing more of the song, but Howon forced a rice cake into his open mouth. “Here. Eat this.”

“Yummy,” Dongwoo commented as he was chewing on the cake. He then pointed to the fishcakes in front of Howon as he swallowed. “I want some of that,” he said and then opened his mouth widely. Howon chuckled and gave in feed the other a rather large piece of fishcake. _That’ll keep him busy for a while_ , he thought as a smile overwhelmed his face. He felt himself getting warm again, but this time he didn’t mind it one bit.

* * *

Once they were finished eating, they walked down the streets for a bit longer, talking about everything under the sun, but then Dongwoo suddenly stopped. They had reached his apartment building. Howon gulped. He thought that they’d been aimlessly wandering around the streets and not walking with a purpose. He hadn’t paid attention to where they were going, not really. He’d been too immersed in their conversation, in Dongwoo.

“Did I bore you tonight?” Howon blurted out, realizing that their date had come to a sudden end.

“No, no of course not,” Dongwoo adamantly denied as he searched in his pockets for his keys. “But I’m afraid that I did,” he muttered under his breath, but Howon could still hear it.

“Huh?”

Dongwoo raised his head and looked the other in the eye. “I like being with you. So I had fun tonight,” he confessed. “Did you even have a good time tonight? With me?” he asked. He was being serious too. Dongwoo’s face stilled and was blank, eclipsed.

And Howon frowned deeper than he had all night. “Why would you ask that?” he asked in return.

“You were frowning the whole night and thinking about something else. Work probably,” Dongwoo answered. He then looked down at his hand, playing with his keys nervously. “Like right now.”

Howon took a step in closer, surprising the other. Dongwoo snapped his head back up. “Right now, all I’m thinking about is how much I like you,” Howon answered. Sure, it was cheesy. It was cheesy as hell, especially since after saying that, he cupped Dongwoo’s cheeks and planted a soft kiss on those plush lips. But Howon didn’t care. This was what he had wanted to do all night long. He was finally warm, all over now. The last patch of ice on his heart was warmed by the rays of his sun. And right now, he couldn’t think of anything else.


	3. Lee Sungyeol's Vampire Diary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Can u do a sequel to ur interview with dragyula, this time from sungyeol's POV?
> 
> Me: Yes I can!

**Being a vampire sucks.**

**P.S. No pun intended.**

It had been an entire day since Myungsoo bit him in a panic, or because Sungyeol was panicking, either way Myungsoo bit holes in his neck, and this was the worst day of his life. Scratch that. Existence might be a better word for it now because Sungyeol was a stupid, dead vampire now thanks to the equally as stupid and dead Myungsoo.

He spent the majority of the day, writhing in pain as the venom seeped in through his body and slowly killed him. The rest of the day he spent glaring at his former ‘friends’ for getting him into this mess. Sunggyu was the one who threw the journal at him so that he could “work out his feelings” (a direct quote from the old man). And worked out he did. The first few pages of the journal was just a list of things he hated. Kim Myungsoo was at the top.

Sungyeol didn’t want this. He wasn’t like Woohyun. Woohyun wanted anything to rid him of the loneliness that stalked the footsteps of his life. In fact, Sungyeol had never seen his friend happier. Woohyun was freakishly overjoyed at the prospect of being a vampire. He kept remarking about all the things that were different now. The brothers found it amusing, especially Sunggyu who kept looking on at his boyfriend with a (creepily) proud smile. But Sungyeol found it annoying.

“You guys! I never thought that I’d like drinking blood, but I do! Blood is great!” Woohyun exclaimed after he guzzled down a blood-packet that Sunggyu had given him.

No, blood is creepy, and drinking it is even creepier. Sungyeol will always think that, which is why he’s going to abstain from blood. FOREVER. He was a picky eater in life, and he will be in death as well.

The thing is: Sungyeol thought that vampires were all fun and games, but when he realized that they were real, they scared the f**k out of him. If vampires were real, then what else is? The boogie man? Werewolves? Unicorns?

The world was a scary place, indeed. And now Sungyeol became one of the things that go bump in the night. He became what made the world terrifying. He’s a monster.

* * *

 **I’m awake all the time now. All the time. 24/7 with my eyes wide open. I don’t even know what to do with all the time I have. I counted the stars. I actually counted every single one of the stars in the sky. Twice. I got different numbers both times. I should do it again tonight. I have no plans. I have no life now. Myungsoo killed it.**

**Being a vampire bites.**  

”Crap! Not again. Stupid unintentional puns,” Sungyeol cursed under his breath as he erased the last line.

It had been a week since he’d turned, and there was no improvement in his mood. If anything, it worsened because he was hungry, or thirsty. He still refused to ‘feed.’ Every time that Myungsoo tried to hand him a blood-packet, Sungyeol would just hand it on over to Woohyun, who somehow managed to gain weight as a vampire. Weird. Myungsoo would then give up and walk away. Or so Sungyeol thought. Later, Sungyeol caught Myungsoo trying to bake some blood into a ‘red velvet’ cake that he made especially for him. Sungyeol almost felt insulted because he had a heightened sense of smell like the rest of them now. Why did Myungsoo think that he could get away with it? Because the cake looked good? Because it smelled good? Because it made Sungyeol’s mouth water? Because secretly Sungyeol really, really, _really_ wanted to ingest blood but his stupid, human guilt got in the way? To be completely honest, Sungyeol thought about eating the cake and blame accidentally blood-ingesting on his own ignorance. But he was honest to a fault and refused.

And now Sungyeol’s stomach was upset with him, growling and gurgling incessantly. His throat was on fire. He felt worse than when the venom was stilling his veins. He felt like he was dying a second death.

“Sungyeol,” Myungsoo called to the other after knocking on the door. He smiled and showed off a piece of fruit in his hands. “I got you a blood orange.”

“Did you just inject blood into that orange?”

Myungsoo sighed and hung his head. “Yes.”

Sungyeol got up from his desk and walked over to the other. “Give it,” he commanded, gesturing frantically at the other. Guilt be damned. Sungyeol was already damned in any case to this Hell.

“Really?” Myungsoo was shocked but still had enough mind to hand the fruit over to the other. And he watched, with round eyes and a slackened jaw, bewildered, as Sungyeol sunk his new fangs for the first time into flesh (flesh of a fruit but it was an improvement nonetheless) and drained it of its juices. Sicky-sweet blood and juice dripped down from the corner of Sungyeol’s mouth to his chin. Sungyeol wiped it away but continued to suck. A strange sensation overwhelmed him. He was finally feeling sated, but at the same time, the hunger within him grew.

“More,” Sungyeol spoke in a muffled voice, the orange still stuck to his fangs as he spoke.

“O-okay,” Myungsoo stammered because he was still surprised that the other had drank blood after refusing so vehemently. His eyes stayed on Sungyeol as he left the room, like he was waiting for Sungyeol to do something else unusual.

Once the other was gone, Sungyeol crouched down onto the floor and squeezed at the orange with all of his might, draining it until its last drop. He didn’t want to look so desperate with the other around. Sungyeol didn’t know how he was able to restrain himself for so long.

After a while, Sungyeol just stuffed the rest of the fruit in his mouth and began chewing. He then reached for his journal, flipping to the first page. Scratching furiously with his pen, he removed ‘Kim Myungsoo’ from the top of his list and moved him to the second position, which made ‘Nam Woohyun’ number one now. And Sungyeol could live with that.

“Watch.”

Sungyeol quickly turned to see his three fellow vampires standing in the doorway of his bedroom. Myungsoo had another orange in his hands. He bent down and rolled the orange in Sungyeol’s direction. On instinct, Sungyeol lunged at it, face first as the journal was still in his hands, and wedged the orange between his fangs. He sucked on it while the others looked on. The three watching clapped as if it were something spectacular.

“Wow,” Woohyun muttered. “Myungsoo-ya, you did it! He’s finally eating!”

“But why an orange? What an unusual boy,” Sunggyu commented with a disapproving shake of his head. He then stared at Sungyeol intently. “You have strange tastes. What vampire needs vitamin C?”

Sungyeol clicked his pen. ‘Kim Sunggyu’ was now at the top the list.

* * *

**Myungsoo got me a new journal. I kinda ate the last one. Apparently newborn vampires go through a teething phase. We have an insatiable desire to just bite everything. Woohyun and I destroyed Sunggyu’s couch yesterday. The old man got mad at us and threatened to throw us out. But Myungsoo defended us, saying that we don’t know any better. Like we were babies.**

**I’m not a baby. Woohyun is. He cries like one still every night. He misses his life. And his friends. The sun. A heartbeat.**

“Sungyeol, are you crying?”

Sungyeol slammed his journal closed and put his arm over it defensively. With his other arm, he roughly wiped the tears away from his face. The last thing that he wanted Woohyun to see were his tearstained cheeks and pages. “Go away,” he growled.

But Woohyun wasn’t deterred, even when Sungyeol threw an orange peel at him. Instead, his friend pulled up a chair and sat next to him. “We’re worried about you,” he revealed. “Especially Myungsoo.”

“Really?” Sungyeol questioned. He watched his friend nod his head as he reached into his back pocket, pulling out a baby’s teething ring. Sunggyu must’ve gotten sick of his boyfriend chewing on his furniture and bought him that. Woohyun put the ring in his mouth and started gnawing on it. His urge to bite was still too strong for him to overcome. Sungyeol sighed and shook his head at the other. “Myungsoo doesn’t act like he cares,” he mumbled. He didn’t get a teething ring (and Sungyeol was actually jealous of that). All he got were oranges and this journal. And other than giving him things, the two hardly talked anymore. Sungyeol hung at Woohyun’s side the most, as Woohyun knew the best what he was going through. Even Sunggyu talked to Sungyeol more than Myungsoo did, although that was mostly just shouting (how many boots does an old vampire need? Besides there were only a few bite marks on it. They were still wearable).

“This is as awkward for him as it is for you,” Woohyun spoke with a growl, tearing at the teething ring with his fangs. He must’ve bit too hard because the ring snapped in half. “Crap.” Woohyun looked at the halves, holding one in each hand. He shrugged and continued chewing on one half.

Sungyeol took the other half and started chewing on it as well. Man, that felt nice. “Why?” he mumbled through clenched teeth.

Woohyun sighed and took the toy out of his mouth. He waved it at the other. “You know why,” he declared. “He didn’t mean to turn you, but he was afraid you’d tell. And he didn’t want to kill you _completely_ either because you guys are friends. But you were threatening to expose us to everyone. He had no choice. And now you two are bonded together…forever.”

“Yah,” Sungyeol argued, pulling the toy from his own mouth. “I wasn’t being unreasonable. He killed you! They’re vampires!”

Woohyun whacked him in the head with the ring. “We’re vampires now too,” he reminded the other. Not like Sungyeol forgotten that. He could never. But he still didn’t _feel_ like a vampire. He still considered himself a human, no matter how untrue that was now. He wasn’t like Woohyun. Woohyun adapted to the lifestyle so easily. He felt like it was his fate to meet Sunggyu and become one. And Woohyun was ecstatic at the idea of becoming one happy vampire ‘family’ with Myungsoo and Sungyeol (‘coven’ is the more appropriate word. But ‘coven’ rhymes with ‘oven.’ And ovens are hot. Fire is hot. Fire can kill vampires. And all of that made Sungyeol very uncomfortable with that word). Woohyun’s fated meeting, though, was orchestrated, and by none other than Kim Myungsoo. But at least it was purposeful. Sungyeol’s circumstances weren’t.

“But you’re right. You weren’t being unreasonable. You were being a good friend, and you were scared,” Woohyun admitted. “I would’ve done the same.”

Sungyeol just sucked on the toy, looking at the other with wide-eyes. He couldn’t imagine Woohyun turning on the Kim brothers, threatening to report them all to the police.

“I didn’t tell you this earlier, and maybe I should have,” Woohyun began. He opted for chewing on his lip instead of the toy when he paused. “I wanted to be strong for you.”

“What?” Sungyeol was losing his patience and wanted Woohyun to cut to the chase.

Woohyun dropped his gaze down to his hands and confessed as if he had committed a sin, “After I turned…I freaked out…majorly. Sunggyu almost lost a hand because of me.”

“Really? But…” Sungyeol paused, looking the other up and down. “You seem so happy now.”

“Well now, I’m happy because I accepted it, being a vampire,” Woohyun revealed, raising his gaze again to the other.

“How?”

Woohyun smiled shyly. “It was something that Sunggyu said,” he said. He then cleared his throat and did his best impression of his boyfriend that he could: “Stop freaking out! And for heaven's sakes, let go of my hand!”

Sungyeol’s jaw dropped, and the toy fell from the corner of his mouth. “Really?” Sungyeol was dumbfounded.

Woohyun chuckled. “I’m not done!” he retorted. He then fixed a serious expression on his face, furrowing his eyebrows into a ‘u’ shape just like the old vampire, as he resumed mimicking Sunggyu, “Most don’t chose to be vampires. We have to deal with the lot that we’re given in life.”

“That?!” Sungyeol scoffed in disbelief. “That’s what calmed you down?! He didn’t give _you_ the choice!”

“Oh…I hadn’t thought much about that,” Woohyun confessed with a chuckle. “But,” the chuckle fell away, replaced with a sigh. Woohyun shrugged. “What can I do? I’m a vampire now, and I just have to deal with it the best I can.”

Sungyeol looked down at his journal. _Maybe this isn’t the best way of dealing with it,_ he thought. He was only letting his feelings fester with every entry because he kept dwelling on how hurt he felt. Sungyeol frowned. He wasn’t so ‘emo’ when he was alive. He’d been cheerful, playful. Was he going through puberty again? That would suck on top of everything else.

Sungyeol then felt a hand on his knee. He looked up and saw Woohyun staring at him intently. “Anxious?” his friend asked.

“I guess,” Sungyeol muttered in response. Was ‘anxious’ even the right term for what he was feeling? He was definitely on edge and upset. And he definitely hated this feeling.

“Myungsoo is anxious too,” Woohyun revealed. “Gyu and I think it’s because you guys have been keeping apart.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because he created you, Myungsoo is feeling like a parent who lost his child. And you, you’re the lost kid,” Woohyun explained. “Or at least that’s what we make of it.”

Sungyeol scoffed. Those two would think of the bond in those terms. Sunggyu was practically acting like Woohyun’s dad, patting on the younger on the head whenever he accomplished something, even something as simple as tying his own shoelaces (okay, which was actually kind of hard with the heightened senses of a vampire. The laces broke easily). And Woohyun looked for that praise. After being an orphan for his whole life, Woohyun finally found his dad (which he also did very inappropriate activities with. They were gross).

“That’s stupid,” Sungyeol remarked.

“Maybe,” Woohyun gave him that much. “But it’s worth a shot just to talk to him.”

“Maybe,” Sungyeol repeated, only giving the other that much too. But his circumstances were incredibly difference from Woohyun’s. Sunggyu actually chose him. Myungsoo didn’t have a choice.

* * *

**Myungsoo and I used to be friends, but that’s changed. When a vampire turns a human, they bond to their creator. If it’s anything like Woohyun and Sunggyu’s, I don’t want it. It’s gross. They’re gross.**

**Sometimes they just look at each other and have a silent conversation. Or at least I hope they’re having a silent conversation because, if they are just looking at each other for hours on end…that’s creepy. Gives me goosebumps.**

**I don’t want that.**

**But I don’t know what kind of bond we have. He bit me by accident. I was an accident.**

“Sungyeol.”

“I’m not crying!” Sungyeol yelled, this time hiding his tears by smashing his face against the desk. He then turned his face to the side, away from the door.

But Sungyeol could hear Myungsoo shifting in the doorway. “I didn’t say that you were,” he said in a small voice. “I brought you this.”

Sungyeol lifted his head and faced the other. Myungsoo was holding an entire crate of ‘blood’ oranges. And to be honest, Sungyeol was getting sick of oranges. But to be even more honest, his ‘anxiety’ fled whenever Myungsoo was near, especially whenever he was near with food. Sungyeol felt like a lost child that had been found and then given an ice cream cone. Were those two dummies right about all of this?

“Are you my mom?” Sungyeol hated how honest that question was.

Myungsoo furrowed his brows in confusion as he set the crate down on the bed. “No?” he didn’t seem so sure of it though, which meant that he probably did feel protective over Sungyeol.

“What are you?” Sungyeol asked bluntly. Myungsoo grimaced and faced the other. “What are we?”

“I…I don’t know,” Myungsoo admitted, sitting on the bed at a safe distance from the other. “We _were_ friends but…”

“You bit me,” Sungyeol tried to fill in the blank, but he was wrong. Myungsoo shook his head.

“Yes but, hyung ruined everything,” Myungsoo finished. “I was just as surprised as you were when I watched the tape!” he exclaimed, eyes going wide. Sungyeol fought back a smile. Small traces of his friend were appearing again in front of his face. “Hyung wasn’t supposed to do anything but talk to Woohyun. It was an introduction. A blind date! You don’t marry someone on the first date!” Myungsoo got worked up.

Sungyeol quirked an eyebrow. “You didn’t send my friend to slaughter?” It was supposed to be a joke, but Myungsoo frowned in response. Sungyeol leaned forward and patted the other. “I’m kidding.”

Myungsoo crossed his arms and hung his head, still hurt by the joke. “I just thought they’d get along, but…” Myungsoo then rolled his neck as he let out a loud groan before continuing. “Hyung knows what he likes, and he must’ve _really_ liked Woohyun. And so he rushed everything.”

“What do you mean by ‘everything’?” Sungyeol asked, clenching his hand on Myungsoo’s knee.

It must’ve hurt because Myungsoo peeled off his hand and placed on orange in his palm so that Sungyeol would squeeze that instead, which he did. And the orange burst and splattered all over the room. Gosh! What was with him recently? Sungyeol began to feel ‘anxious’ again when Myungsoo had said that. At least he felt a little better now, after destroying that orange. He then began licking the ‘juice’ off of his hands and gestured at Myungsoo to continue.

“I meant what you think,” Myungsoo confessed. “Hyung rushed his own relationship.” Myungsoo then lowered his head but looked up shyly at the other. “And ours,” he said before burying his face in his hands, embarrassed by having to say it out loud.

Sungyeol stood up and pulled the hands away from Myungsoo’s face. “Wait,” he muttered, his yellow eyes darting everywhere. “Were you thinking about biting me before you bit me?”

“Sort of,” Myungsoo admitted with a short chuckle, still embarrassed. He then wrested his hands away from the other’s grasp. He pulled an other orange from the crate and crushed it himself. He must’ve had a hard time controlling himself too. “I just…I had a plan,” he raised his voice, reaching for another orange and smashing it between both of his hands. “Hyung was supposed to warm you up to the idea of vampires. You would’ve thought he was cool.” Myungsoo grabbed another orange and stomped on it with his foot. “And then I was going to tell you I was one after awhile. And then we could date. If that went well…” Myungsoo was reaching for another orange, but Sungyeol slapped his hands, making him drop it. Myungsoo stopped, and their gazes met.

“That sounds like a very long-term plan,” Sungyeol interrupted him.

“At least three years,” Myungsoo replied, pulling his hands into his lap. “I didn’t want to force you into it…but then I did anyway.”

“I don’t think it would’ve taken that long.”

“Huh?”

Sungyeol sat down next to Myungsoo. After Sungyeol had turned, this was the physically closest that the two have been, shoulder to shoulder. Sungyeol felt at ease, finally, with everything, especially with Myungsoo. He finally felt like he did before this whole debacle. “Before that night,” Sungyeol began. “When I was still human…I _liked_ you.”

“Really?” Myungsoo gasped. A wide smile flashed across his face, but only for a second because he realized something. “But now?”

Sungyeol snorted. “Now you forced me to like you forever and ever. You _bonded_ with me.”

Myungsoo grinned again. “You still like me?” he concluded. Sungyeol lowered his gaze and gave a short nod. Myungsoo was satisfied with just that admission and enveloped the other in a hug. Sungyeol sighed, letting out all of his ‘anxiety.’ He was finally starting to enjoy this whole vampire thing. Even hugging felt different, better. But maybe that was because he was hugging Myungsoo.

“Ow!” Myungsoo yelped and pulled away from the other, his hand on his neck and rubbing it gingerly. “Did you just bite me?”

“Eung.” Sungyeol nodded with a proud smile. “Now we’re even.”

* * *

**Being a vampire is awesome! I can sort of fly…it’s more like gliding really, but it’s still friggin’ cool. I don’t get tired, which is good because I’m watching all the movies that I wanted to see when I was alive but had no time for. Also I can go out during the day, which is nice because I can keep my job (black market bloodbags are expensive). And if my boss bothers me about being late one more time, I can eat him! Yay free blood!**

**Best of all, I get to spend forever with my best friend and the man that I have complicated feelings for and want to bite all over (and sometimes do, but he’s okay with it). And Sunggyu’s here too.**

**Anyway, I still don’t know exactly what Myungsoo and I are right now, but we have an eternity to figure it out. There’s no rush.**

**I’m glad that things turned out this way. Being a vampire is wicked!**

**P.S. Pun intended.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the Myungyeol seemed lacking. I just had an image of them being on the verge of confessing before the whole Dragyula thing happened, and then things got out of hand, forcing them into an eternal relationship. So I made them confess at the end, going back to how things were before and a little farther.


	4. Awoo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> can you write a highschool woogyu fic about them competing with each other abt trivial things such as scores and stuffs? ;;;;;;

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, um, this turned into something that you probably didn't want. I hope you still like it anyway, Anon! It's a fic about a rivalry??? It's Halloween-themed??? It's really late???
> 
> I'm still working on the other prompts too! Don't worry!

Kim Sunggyu couldn’t tell you how it started or who did. Was it because Sunggyu had stared at him the wrong way? Or did it all start with his comment? “I scored higher.” It wasn’t like getting a 45 on a test was much better than getting a 43, but it was still higher, still better. But how it started probably didn’t matter. Sunggyu was neck-deep in a rivalry with, perhaps, the worst person for him to be in a rivalry with, Nam Woohyun. Why was he the worst person to be in a rivalry with? Because Nam Woohyun would always take things a step too far. And soon the two of them were competing over the most trivial things. Who ate their lunch faster? Who could change into their gym clothes the fastest? How many chocolates did they receive on Valentine’s Day? Who cried first? Who could hold in their tears the best? Everything. Everything became a competition. And it would last the entire day. From the moment that they saw each other within the school’s gates, they’d stare at each other until the first one blinked. Woohyun won most often early on, but he had an unfair advantage. His eyes were bigger. However, Sunggyu had his wiles, and one time, a water gun in his pocket, and he’d make the other blink first by those means. And then at the end of the day, they’d race out of the classroom and to the bus stop, shoving aside and leaping over whomever was stupid enough to get in their way.

Their classmates were used to this behavior. Most of them just stayed away, far away from them. Woohyun and Sunggyu still had friends though, friends which luckily had stuck by their side since middle school and through this silly rivalry. The rest of their classmates just watched the rivalry unfold from a safe distance.

Even the teachers knew about this rivalry (it was hard to miss when it was literally happening in front of their faces), and so they decided to take advantage of it, encourage it. So since their first year, Woohyun and Sunggyu were assigned desks right next to each other, and as a result, their rankings shot up from near the bottom of the class up to the near the top. The rivalry could be productive.

But mostly, the rivalry was a pain in everyone’s butt. The worst it had ever gotten was when they campaigned against each other to be class president. They weren’t just mudslinging. They were throwing flaming fireballs at each other with their words (and completely unfounded “facts”). In the end, they both lost, to Jang Dongwoo, and they had gotten the same amount of votes: one. And they both had voted for themselves. No one else in their class wanted either of these crazy rivals to lead them.

Nam Woohyun was absolutely the worst person for Kim Sunggyu to be in a rivalry with, for more reasons than Sunggyu knew.

* * *

“You have a lot of hair.”

Sunggyu pulled his shirt over his head and looked at the other incredulously. What was this? Normally they were too preoccupied with changing for gym class as quickly as they could. They never talked, let alone measure each other up like this. “Having lots of hair is manly,” Sunggyu remarked. “I’m more manly than you.”

Woohyun grimaced. “But having too much hair is gross,” he retorted and then retched as he looked at Sunggyu again.

Sunggyu scoffed, “Look, who’s talking.” He stepped closer to the other and pointed down to Woohyun’s bare legs, well, not-so-bare because they were covered in a thick layer of hair. “What? Are those fur pants?”

Woohyun shoved the other way and pulled up his gym pants. “At least I only have hair like this on my legs,” he defended himself. “Unlike some people.” Woohyun smirked as he pulled himself up as straight and tall as he could. “Your mustache is showing again.”

Sunggyu’s hands immediately clapped over his lips. “I just shaved a minute ago,” his voice was muffled by his hands. But his breath wasn’t the only thing he could feel against his hands. He also felt smooth skin. “Oh, there’s nothing there.”

“I lied,” Woohyun confessed as he finished tying his shoes. “And I won! I got dressed first! See you outside so I can kick your ass some more,” he shouted to the other while running out of the locker room.

Sunggyu dropped his hands to his side and sighed. He glared at Woohyun and then his shadow as he left. How did he know Sunggyu’s weakness? His biggest insecurity? Hopefully, it had been nothing more than a lucky guess. But Sunggyu always lived in fear of someone figuring out his secret.

Yes, Sunggyu was hairy, incredibly hairy. And his hair grew quickly. If his mustache grew back in, then that meant his unibrow did too, which was more embarrassing to have. The hair on his arms was rather thick too, as well as his legs. But there was a reason for it all: Kim Sunggyu was a werewolf. Yes, Sunggyu was a werewolf, but he didn’t know why. He’d never been bitten. His family didn’t think that a curse was laid on him (although they were still figuring that out). He hadn’t been punished by the gods for being a cannibal. And he was positive that he didn’t sleep outside during the summer on a Wednesday or a Friday with the light of the full moon shining down his face. Sunggyu was just born this way, born a werewolf.   
Mostly Sunggyu and his family had managed it well. His parents had trained him well since infanthood/puppyhood and were under constant guidance of fortune tellers and shamans. And Sunggyu had been vigilant about shaving and controlling his more animalistic urges. And no one else was ever the wiser, not even his best friend Dongwoo. And Dongwoo had not even mentioned Sunggyu’s hair even once. Yet, Nam Woohyun did.

But what things hadn’t they said to each other? Sunggyu shoved the whole matter towards the dark corners of his mind and slowly walked out of the locker room. He was the last of his classmates to get dressed.

He subsequently bragged about it to Nam Woohyun.

* * *

If Sunggyu thought that the incident in the locker room was treading dangerous waters, he dove headfirst into danger during gym class. And there was no way to describe it other than a freak accident. It had been cold outside, and Sunggyu’s skin was dry and fragile. And so when he and Woohyun were struggling by the goalpost during a corner kick, Sunggyu slammed his hand against the post. And the skin broke. Normally this wouldn’t have been a problem. A regular student would’ve cursed, shook it off, and kept playing soccer with his classmates. But Sunggyu wasn’t a regular student. Once his hand it the post, he let out a howl. A genuine howl. And he began whimpering as he inspected the wound. Unlike humans, when Sunggyu gets a scratch he doesn’t bleed. Instead the scratch peels away at his top layer, his human layer. Now his red fur was sprouting from his knuckles through the tear in his skin. Panicked, Sunggyu quickly covered up his hand and sprinted off of the field, quickly excusing himself as he passed by the teacher. Once safely inside the locker room, Sunggyu leaned against the wall and slid down onto the floor. Panting, he uncovered his hand again. There was more fur. Sunggyu frowned for a second before licking the wound and wondering how he could sneak bandages from the nurse’s office. He needed to cover this up quickly before anyone could see it.

But then the door slammed open. Sunggyu yelped and hid his injured hand deep within the sleeve of his jacket. Slowly, he looked up to see who it was. Of course, it had to be Nam Woohyun.

“Show me,” Woohyun demanded as he crouched next to Sunggyu on the floor.

Sunggyu’s injured fist clenched in his sleeve. “Why?” the werewolf retorted.

Then, Woohyun lifted his fist right in front of Sunggyu’s eyes. Sunggyu flinched at the sudden move, but then slowly peeled his eyes open, one by one. Woohyun’s fist was bloody too. “I want to see whose injury is worse. I hit my hand too,” Woohyun explained. “So show me,” he urged the other to compete as he leaned over and reached for Sunggyu’s covered hand.

The werewolf leapt to his feet and bared his teeth at the other while bringing his covered fist close to his chest protectively. “Why are you so weird?” he growled at the other. Sunggyu then went to his locker, hoping that he had enough foresight to cram bandages in there months earlier. He didn’t. Sunggyu slammed the locker closed in frustration, only to see Woohyun’s grave face right next to him.

“You’re weirder,” Woohyun retorted.

“What?” Sunggyu mumbled as he tried to recover the breath he’d just lost. He looked at the other incredulously. “You’re the one who wants to compare cuts.” This was one contest that neither of them wanted to win.

Woohyun stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket and his gaze flittered over to the door. “That’s only because…” his voice fell into silence. His attention now was solely focused on that door.

But now he had all of Sunggyu’s attention to deal with. “Because what?” the werewolf asked.

“Listen. I’ll ask you this only once,” Woohyun declared and faced Sunggyu again. “You better answer quickly because we don’t have much time. The rest are coming.”

And Sunggyu knew it. With his sharp ears, he could hear the others running down the hall. “You’re wasting time now. Just ask!” Sunggyu raised his voice. With the footsteps coming closer, getting louder, his heart started racing too, thumping in his ears.

“Are you evil?”

“What?” Sunggyu blubbered. Woohyun didn’t just ask him that. Sunggyu was just imagining things. The werewolf was about to ask the other to repeat the question, but their classmate burst through the doors and Woohyun turned to greet them, as he usually did. He then walked over to his friend, Myungsoo, and asked how the game ended. Dongwoo then came up to Sunggyu and asked about his hand, if he wanted to go to the nurse. Sunggyu just nodded, but his eyes drifted over to his rival, who was chatting happily about the game.

_Nam Woohyun…does he know?_

* * *

Sunggyu didn’t have the time to spare on such thoughts. Nam Woohyun, like always, just knew how to get under his skin. That’s all it was. And Sunggyu soon forgot about it as the day went on, lessons happened, and new competitions between the rivals took place. Who could balance their pens the best on their upper lip? Woohyun. Who could finish their Calc test the fastest (and later who got the highest score)? Sunggyu (and maybe Sunggyu again). Who reached the bus stop first at the end of the day? Sunggyu, but he really had good reason to rush home today. Tonight was an important night for him. It was a full moon, and he was ill-prepared for it. He had to go to the fortuneteller’s before the sun set.

Ever since Sunggyu was born, his family had been seeking advice from fortunetellers and shamans about his “condition.” And as long as Sunggyu could remember, he’d been going to this one fortuneteller specifically. He didn’t know her name. She said it was forbidden to be spoken by a human tongue (a werewolf’s too), that she’d lose her powers if he knew. And so Sunggyu didn’t want to know because she was the real deal. She was really magic.

As magical as she was, she couldn’t cure Sunggyu’s condition or knew why he was the way he was. There were some things that only the gods were privy to, to use her own words. So she couldn’t cure Sunggyu, but she could provide a “quick fix,” a charm that would lock the beast inside of him every full moon. And because of her, Sunggyu hadn’t transmuted in years. He was grateful for that. He’d be thankful to this nameless granny for the rest of his life.

Although, he was getting fed up with her today.

She wouldn’t give the charm to him outright, even though he was obviously there for the charm and she was well aware that he was short on time. She made him sit down, pushing him onto the cushion on the floor, and then she walked over to the other side of the small table and sat down.

“We only have an hour until the sun sets,” he reminded her. He tried his best not to sound irritated, but he could feel his lip curl upwards as he spoke.

The granny nodded slightly and swayed forwards and backwards, inhaling deeply and rhythmically. “The scent,” she murmured. “It was faint, but the scent surrounding you is getting stronger. Yes. Yes.” She then stopped swaying and cocked her head. “But what is it?”

“Well,” Sunggyu began nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “I am seventeen. I’m…going through some changes.”

“No,” the fortuneteller quickly rejected. “It’s not yours. It’s someone else’s.” Her eyes widened. “Samjokgu,” her voice as dark as the room, which was lit only by flickering candles.

“Huh?”

“Sam-jok-gu,” she repeated the name again slowly. She gestured over to him. “You’re clouded in his scent. Yes, he’s been tracking you for a while. I noticed the change in your scent for the last few years. But now it’s become stronger, more distinct,” she explained. “He’s getting closer to you.”

“What?!” Sunggyu sputtered, blinking rapidly _. I’ve been tracked for years, and now she tells me?_ He bit that complaint back and instead, sputtered. “How? What is he?”

The granny closed her eyes again and turned her head towards the wall, as if she’d heard something from over there. And Sunggyu sat there patiently as she “listened” (and ignored the teen wolf). “You’ll meet with him soon,” she finally spoke.

“Soon?” Sunggyu repeated in disbelief. “But to-tonight is the full moon!” He jumped up from the cushion and his hand dug into his pocket, searching for his wallet. “Ah, I’ll definitely need the charm. It’s the same as last time, right?”

The fortuneteller opened her eyes again, her gaze falling upon the frantic boy, but she remained calm and still as stone. “No,” fell from her lips.

Sunggyu froze and his jaw dropped. “You raised prices again?!” he exclaimed.

The woman shook her head and a small smile spread across her face. “No, no charm. I’m not giving you a charm,” she announced, waving her hand in the air.

“Why not?” Sunggyu whimpered. He _definitely_ needed the charm now if this guy was on his trail. He couldn’t change.

Slam! The fortuneteller’s hand fell against the table. “You _have_ to meet with Samjokgu in your wolf form,” she insisted.

Sunggyu pouted. “Why?”

“Samjokgu is a dispeller of evils, imbued with divine power from the gods themselves. He can see _straight_ through all disguises. And he was able to defeat the great gumiho Daji with a single bite,” she revealed. “If he bites you, it might chase the wolf right out of you.”

Sunggyu hung his head, thinking it over for a few seconds. Then he looked at her again out of the corner of his eye. “But…but will it hurt? What if it kills me?” he asked. No matter how he looked it, being _bit_ by this creature didn’t sound painless. Even imaging sharp teeth sinking into his flesh…oh, that gave him shivers. He looked at the granny for answers but se only shrugged in response. “Do you not care?” he blurted out.

“Sunggyu,” the fortuneteller called to him in a chiding tone. “You asked me how to get rid of the curse. You didn’t ask me how to get rid of the curse _and_ live.”

“Forget it. And forget Sammi-gu!” Sunggyu yelled.

“SamJOKgu!” she corrected him (as if it mattered).

“Yea, forget that thing and just give me the charm,” he begged. His wallet was in his hands and he was already pulling out the money for the charm.

“No,” the fortuneteller denied him once again.

“Why not?”

Her hand fell against the table again. And again, as if she wanted to slam this sentiment into his head. “He has caught your scent! Be it this month or next or years from now. He will hunt you down. Be brave! And confront your destiny head-on,” she tried to urge him, goad his pride.

But it didn’t work. “No thank you,” Sunggyu snapped. His eye caught a yellow slip of paper with red ink painted on it. Assuming it was his charm (who else would’ve she prepared a charm for on the night of a full moon), Sunggyu grabbed it and threw the usual payment on the table. “I’ll take this!” he announced before darting out the door.

Sunggyu would rather commit (almost) theft than to be hunted down by this Samjokgu character. Sunggyu wasn’t a beast that need to be taken down. He was just a teenager trying to live. And live he will!

In an attempt to shake Samjokgu from his trail, Sunggyu took the long way home, the obscenely long way, walking past his own house a few times before finally going in. But Sunggyu felt like he was still being followed, still being watched. But every time he turned around, no one was there, man or beast. He was alone.

* * *

When he finally came home, Sunggyu announced himself, and his mom came rushing out from the kitchen. “Did you get it? Did you get the charm?” she asked.

Sunggyu pulled the yellow paper from his pocket and handed it to her. “I think so,” he answered. “This was all I could get.”

“Hm?” Her eyes widened as she studied the script on the paper. She flipped it over to see the other side and flipped it back around. “Sunggyu, this is a _love_ charm,” she revealed. “Why did she give you this?”

“I don’t know,” Sunggyu murmured while rubbing his temples. Of course, he picked up the wrong one. It was just his luck.

His mother handed back the charm to him. “Place it where your heart feels most at rest, and you’ll find love this year,” she instructed him.

Sunggyu scoffed as he took the charm back, cramming it carelessly into his pocket. “Doubt it,” he sneered.

“These charms have been keeping you safe. Don’t doubt them,” she warned him. She then sighed and pat him a few times on the cheek before reaching up to stroke the top of his head. “I’ll tell your father that we’ll have our cute, little puppy again tonight.” His mother then left, probably to call his father.

Sunggyu heaved a great sigh, feeling embarrassed. He hadn’t transmuted in years. He couldn’t even remember what it felt like, how he managed to do it before. And worst of all, he’d be transmuting when there was a hunter nearby. But Samjokgu was a dispeller of evils, and Sunggyu didn’t think he was evil. He thought, but he didn’t know for sure. He didn’t now what the animal inside of him was capable of. Maybe that was why Samjokgu was after him. That guy knew something that Sunggyu didn’t. Maybe Sunggyu was evil after all.

With heavy feet he shuffled into his bedroom. Once inside, he collapsed onto the floor on top of his bed. He rolled onto his back and struggled to take out the crumpled charm from his pocket. “Well,” he mumbled to himself. “Love wouldn’t be a bad thing…especially if I’m going to die.” Sunggyu flipped onto his stomach and stuck the charm against the wall, right above his bed, where his heart felt most at rest. “Please work,” he begged of the charm. “Let me love just once before I die.”

* * *

Before the sun set, his parents lined his room with newspaper and locked his bedroom door, shutting him inside. His mom had given him dinner to eat in his room, and she promised to give him more later, in case he was “getting out of hand.” Sunggyu sighed. He’d also caught sight of the tranquilizer in his father’s back pocket. Did they really have those lying around the house because of him? This didn’t put any of Sunggyu’s growing worries to rest. His eyes flittered over to the charm above the wall, as his parents wished him good night. That charm. It was his insurance policy. He couldn’t die tonight. He wouldn’t. He hadn’t met his love yet. He was going to live.

Or that’s what he kept telling himself.

Once the door closed and locked, Sunggyu got up from his bed and walked over to his window. He opened it and stuck his head out, searching for the moon. When he’d caught sight of it a loud howl ripped through his throat.

The beast inside of him had awaken.

* * *

And the following morning, the regular, human Sunggyu woke up, naked and curled up on his bed. He had transmuted last night for certain. His torn clothes beneath the windowsill were a sure sign of it, but nothing else seemed out of place. Even the newspaper that his parents had laid down was hardly askew. Sunggyu sat up in his bed. Had he just fallen asleep last night? Did nothing else happen? Sunggyu looked at the dish that his parents left behind the night before. Did his parents drug him?

Did it even matter? Sunggyu was alive, and he was happy to be. Samjokgu, whatever he was, didn’t catch him. Sunggyu graciously tapped on the charm hanging on the wall. This love charm was really becoming a good luck charm. Sunggyu hoped to never find love if it meant staying alive.

* * *

Nothing had happened to Sunggyu last night, but something _had_ to have happened to Woohyun last night. Dark circles were descending down to Woohyun’s cheeks and his eyes were red. And right as their gazes met for the first time that day, Woohyun immediately dropped his and turned his back towards Sunggyu. His rival wasn’t in the mood for competing today. And Sunggyu was at a loss as for what to do now. So he wavered outside for a few moments before walking inside and straight past Woohyun. If his rival wasn’t going to bother to acknowledge him, then Sunggyu was more than happy to return the sentiment.

However, they couldn’t ignore each other all day. They sat next to each other, be close to one another, be able to smell one another. And Woohyun, he smelled differently today. Sunggyu sniffed loudly once. He then leaned closer to Woohyun and sniffed again.

“What?” Woohyun finally snapped, irritated.

“Do you have a sausage in your pocket?” Sunggyu asked. It was strange. Woohyun wasn’t normally the type to have food on his person. But now, Sunggyu sniffed again. Two, definitely two. Woohyun definitely had two sausages in her pocket.

Woohyun arched an eyebrow. “Why? Do you want it?” he retorted.

Sunggyu shifted in his seat and licked his lips. He did, but… “No,” he lied.

Woohyun chuckled as he pulled out one of the snacks from his pocket. He showed it to the other. He then quickly moved it over to the right. Sunggyu’s eyes immediately followed it. Then the sausage flew over to the left side. Sunggyu’s head turned towards it. Right, left, right, left, Woohyun swung the snack from side to side, and Sunggyu’s eyes followed it all the while, his mouth watering. Finally it stopped. Woohyun placed the snack on Sunggyu’s desk, chuckling. “Here.”

“Thank you,” Sunggyu happily spoke as he took the sausage. He couldn’t even be mad at his rival for teasing him. That’s what rivals do. But Sunggyu had a treat, and he was happy.

And Woohyun also smiled for the first time that day.

* * *

But the smile didn’t last, and Woohyun’s condition seemed to get worse as the days wore on. He fell asleep during lessons and barely moved during gym class, even when they played soccer. Worst of all, the rivalry came to a halt.

At first, Sunggyu thought, “I finally beat him,” and that he’d won out on the rivalry overall. But after a month passed, Sunggyu didn’t feel so much like a winner anymore. He felt like he’d lost and lost something in particular. His days didn’t feel right without the banter and the constant contests and the glaring at each other from across the room. Maybe that’s why he found himself looking more and more for Woohyun, anticipating him, anticipating the old Woohyun to come back and pick up the gauntlet. Sunggyu would grow excited whenever Woohyun approached and disappointed when his (former) rival would subsequently ignore him.

Maybe it was just a force of habit for Sunggyu to always be anticipating Woohyun, or maybe because Woohyun was always carrying sausages in his pockets now. But Sunggyu was always waiting for something to happen, anything. It never did.

Did Woohyun decide to grow up and focus on his studies? They were going to be third years soon. College exams were quickly approaching. The rest of their classmates were slowly growing more serious too (the ones that hadn’t given up hope of going to a university). Maybe it was time for Sunggyu to grow up as well and say goodbye to their silly rivalry.

Also, Woohyun wasn’t the only one ignoring Sunggyu’s wishes. The fortuneteller was acting strange as well. For the next full moon, she refused to give Sunggyu a charm again, and he ended up borderline stealing one again. This time, it was a charm that prevented hair loss, and so he gave it to his father. The following month, the granny was gone. She had put up a sign on her shop saying that she went out to pray. And Sunggyu went home charm-less this time.

But charm or not, it didn’t seem to make a difference. The full moon came and went, and Sunggyu didn’t kill anything or was killed. There weren’t any reports of werewolf sightings on the internet the next day. He was okay, even if his mother did say he’d been going outside every time he transmuted. Samjokgu hadn’t found him yet. No one did. And Sunggyu always returned home safely and a bit tired. But he was beginning to push his luck.

Every morning and every night, Sunggyu would tap the love charm that was still hanging on the wall and say a short pray. _Please don’t let me find love yet. Let me live a bit longer. Don’t let Samjokgu find me_.

But time was quickly passing. The year would be up before he knew it. Soon he’d be transmuting for the fourth time because once again the fortuneteller would refuse to give it to him. Soon he’d find love, and then soon after that, he’d be at the mercy of Samjokgu. Soon Sunggyu was going to die.

* * *

He was wrong.

Woohyun wasn’t focusing on his studies. Their English test came back, and when Sunggyu leaned over to check out his rival’s grade, Woohyun received the lowest mark that he had all year. It was as if he didn’t study at all. _What is he doing?_ Sunggyu thought as Woohyun noticed the other glimpsing at his paper and folded it, shoving it into his desk. Woohyun then laid his head against the desk and fell asleep. _Something is wrong with him._

After class was let out for lunch and their classmates were milling about, Sunggyu put his hand on Woohyun’s shoulder, stopping him from leaving to eat with his friends. Woohyun sat back down in his seat and turned towards the other, obviously agitated. “Hey,” Sunggyu began anxiously. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Woohyun lied. He had to be lying. There were marks on his cheeks from the sleeve of his sweater which he’d been sleeping against for the past half an hour, and yet in spite of that nap, Woohyun still couldn’t keep his eyes open as he was staring at Sunggyu right now.

“You don’t look fine,” Sunggyu retorted. “You’re not acting fine. You aren’t fine.”

Woohyun scoffed. “What do you care? Are we friends or something?”

“No,” Sunggyu quickly answered. “We’re rivals.” Woohyun chuckled at that amendment. Sunggyu did too. It was the first time either of them had said that to each other, and it sounded weird to do so. But Sunggyu tried to play it off casually, “So what’s up with you lately? You’re slacking. I’m kicking your butt all over the place. What’s going on?”

Woohyun froze for a second. When he moved again, he faced the chalkboard, chewing on his lip. “You…” he began. His voice soon dropped afterwards, but his eyes were shooting towards every direction in the room. Woohyun didn’t want to say it, whatever it was, which only made Sunggyu more curious.

“What?” Sunggyu prodded the other. “What about me?”

Woohyun looked at the other out of the corner of his eye. “You look like a giant corgi,” he finally confessed.

“What?!” That was one of the last things he’d expected the other to say.

But the random confession must have given Woohyun confidence because he leaned in closer to Sunggyu and whispered, “I didn’t know that werewolves didn’t have tails. It makes you look like a giant corgi, especially with this.” Woohyun then reached up and played with Sunggyu’s red locks between his fingers. “Is this natural?”

Sunggyu’s jaw had been hanging wide open, rendering him unable to speak, up until this point. After Woohyun touched him, it snapped Sunggyu out of it. _This is really happening. This isn’t my imagination._ “You saw me? You know? You know about me?” Sunggyu sputtered quickly under his breath.

“Yea,” Woohyun answered, acting as if it was completely normal. “I’m Samjokgu.”

And that was the last thing Sunggyu had ever expected Nam Woohyun to say.

* * *

Woohyun really wasn’t _the_ Samjokgu, but _a_ Samjokgu. However, for the sake of ease and the legend, there was only one. In reality, there were many. Every man in Woohyun’s family tree transformed into the magical creature. Currently, there were three: Woohyun, his brother Boohyun, and their father. And the three of them were responsible for ridding all of Korea from evil spirits and creatures. It was a nearly impossible task, but the three of them still did it because this was what they were born to do. And it sucked.

Ever since Woohyun was a child, he could see all of the scary creatures that went bump in the night. And it didn’t help his poor, little, anxious heart that his family lived at a center of spiritual energy, purposefully too. Everyone was constantly surrounded by evil spirits and monsters. The whole world swarmed with them. But Woohyun and his family were the only ones that could see them.

Eventually, Woohyun got used to them. Seeing a ghost was an everyday thing, and having a goblin as a middle school teacher wasn’t as surprising as the pop quizzes he would give. However, that all changed when he entered into high school and his powers matured. Woohyun could now finally transform into Samjokgu. And along with that new power came new responsibilities. Woohyun didn’t have to just learn how to live with these creatures, but he now had to learn how to defeat them.

And the first monster that Woohyun came across after gaining his powers was Kim Sunggyu. It took great amounts of self-control for Woohyun to swallow his impulses and not to bite the werewolf from their very first meeting. Why couldn’t Woohyun just bite him and be done with him? Growing up surrounded by spirits and other mystical beings taught him many things, and one of them was: not all magical/spiritual beings were evil. He surely wasn’t evil. His family wasn’t. The virgin ghost that lived in his closet (Mijoo) was creepy, for sure, but not evil. So Woohyun was more than willing to give Sunggyu a benefit of a doubt (That gumiho of a school nurse, however, he had to get rid of).

Woohyun not only gave Sunggyu a benefit of a doubt, but he also gave the other a hard time. He was the one who started the rivalry between them. He wanted to rile the other up and see if he could get Sunggyu to snap and reveal his true nature. He kept pushing, goading Sunggyu but all the other would do was push him right back. An eye for an eye, fang for a fang. And soon their rivalry became genuine and not just a test (and fun too, though Woohyun wouldn’t admit it).

Even though Woohyun was pretty sure that Sunggyu was a decent person after a year of their rivalry passed, he couldn’t be certain. He had to meet the other in his werewolf form in order to truly know. Through Dongwoo, Woohyun had gotten Sunggyu’s address, acting as if he’d use it for some prank (and Dongwoo was more than willing to aid him in it, one of their only classmates who found the rivalry entertaining). Woohyun then stalked Sunggyu’s home every full moon, waiting for the werewolf to come out. But the werewolf never did. And so at the stroke of midnight, Woohyun would go home.

But then, about four months ago, Sunggyu poked his head out of the bedroom window and his face basked in the glow of the moonlight. Red hair, fur sprouted on his cheeks, all over his face. His nose grew into a long muzzle and his ears came to a point. A howl ripped through the air, and the fully formed werewolf jumped out of the window.

Woohyun cautiously took one step closer to the beast, who was looking around and sniffing the cold night’s air. The wolf didn’t sense him. Woohyun took another step, and then another, and froze when the werewolf snapped his head and stared at Woohyun head-on. The black lips curled up, exposing his fangs, but there was no sound, nothing expect the sound of Woohyun’s heart beating rapidly in his chest.

Then the wolf took off, sprinting right at him. Woohyun shut his eyes, covering his face with his arms, bracing himself for the worst, for fangs to sink into his flesh. But it never came. All Woohyun felt was a slight prodding at his side. Woohyun lowered his arms, slowly opening his eyes, and looked at the beast, who was sitting down and staring right back at him with his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

“Huh?” Woohyun muttered, letting his arms fall to the side. “What do you want?”

Did Sunggyu understand him? Or was he just impatient? Because now the werewolf was nudging at Woohyun’s side with his muzzle and then barking at him. The third time Sunggyu pressed at his side, Woohyun finally got it. It was his pocket. Since he’d always stake out the house until late at night, Woohyun would buy snacks. And now he had a couple of sausages in his pocket. Woohyun smirked to himself as he pulled one of the snacks out. “Do you want this?” he asked excitedly as he flaunted it to the other. The werewolf immediately sat down, licking his jowls and staring intently at the snack. Woohyun laughed and broke the sausage in half. He tossed one half in the air. Sunggyu jumped up to catch it, but he missed and the snack fell to the ground. He didn’t care. He was an animal. He ate it anyways. After gobbling that half down, the werewolf sat up again, waiting patiently for Woohyun to give him the other half. Woohyun pretended to throw it a couple of times, laughing whenever Sunggyu had leaned back to pounce or went to go find it. After the third time, the werewolf barked at him, and so Woohyun decided to be nice and threw the sausage as far as he could and watched with an amused smile as Sunggyu bounded after it.

“So he’s really good after all,” Woohyun spoke to himself. He then caught something out of the corner of his eye, bright and florescent, a tennis ball. “I wonder.” He walked over to the ball and picked it up. He then turned to the werewolf. “Hey Gyu!” The red wolf looked over at him. “Do you want to play fetch?”

Like most dogs, Gyu-wolf didn’t understand the concept of fetch at first. He wanted Woohyun to throw the ball, but he didn’t want the other to take it from him either. The ball was his, and Woohyun couldn’t have it. Most of the time, Woohyun had to trick Sunggyu into dropping the ball, but eventually Sunggyu understood that it was okay for Woohyun to have the ball because he was going to give it back. But soon after learning that, Sunggyu got bored with the game and laid down in the middle of the road. Woohyun tried to goad the other into playing again, rolling the ball right past the wolf, pressing the ball against his mouth, but Sunggyu would always respond in the same way. He’d look up at Woohyun and sighed.

“Well, if you’re not going to play anymore, I’m going home,” Woohyun announced and turned to walk away. A few seconds later, Woohyun heard claws clicking against the pavement. Woohyun craned his neck to glance behind him, and sure enough Sunggyu had gotten up to follow him. He chuckled to himself and began walking around in a large circle. For the first couple of rotations, Sunggyu had followed right in his footsteps. But then he wizened up and turned around to cut off Woohyun, startling him. Woohyun clenched his heart and fell to the ground. He was shocked, yes, but not that shocked. He was playing it up, curious to see what the wolf would do. And once he had fully laid down on the ground with his eyes closed and tongue rolled out, Sunggyu began prodding at Woohyun’s cheeks with his wet nose and barking at him. Woohyun quickly “revived” and pushed the other away. “I’m okay. I’m okay,” he assured the other. Sunggyu sat down and stared at him as Woohyun sat up with him. Timidly, stopping a few times, Woohyun reached over to pet the wolf. The red hair was coarser than he’d thought it’d be and slick too. And there was a lot of it, a lot of fur. Woohyun chuckled again. _No wonder why he’s so self-conscious about his hair. There’s tons_. But it was pretty, for a werewolf, and it felt nice between his fingers. Woohyun’s hand traveled down the wolf’s back and he patted him heartedly a few times. “Okay, Sunggyu. It’s time for you to go home. It’s getting late,” Woohyun stated. Sunggyu cocked his head. He didn’t understand. “H-O-M-E! You know, the place over there. Go home, Sunggyu!” The wolf looked over to where Woohyun was pointing and then back to the other expectantly. Woohyun shook his head and got up. “Okay, guess I’ll have to bring you there myself.”

Woohyun walked up to Sunggyu’s house and made the wolf sit at the doorstep. After ringing the doorbell, Woohyun began to walk away, and the werewolf tried to follow him. “Stay! No! Stay, Sunggyu. Stay!” he commanded the other in a low whisper as he walked further and further away. Sunggyu was torn and wavering at his spot, until the door opened. Sunggyu ran right inside. If he had a tail, Woohyun would be sure that it would be wagging. The wolf was now happily inside, but he didn’t forget about Woohyun. Sunggyu ran to the window and pushed back the curtain so that he could look out. Once he caught sight of Woohyun, he began barking again. Woohyun saw a shadow approaching from behind the wolf, one of his parents who wanted to see what their son was barking at. Woohyun transformed himself and ran away.

So in the end of his investigation, Woohyun concluded that Sunggyu was harmless and poor at fetch. However, every full moon Woohyun found himself coming back to that house and playing with the red wolf. It was his little secret, his little retreat from hunting down other mythical creatures and biting them (and some of them tasted really bad, especially the ghosts, like rotting and dusty flesh). It was one of the few times that Woohyun was grateful for his gift because now he had, essentially, a large dog to play with and to blow off steam with. And Sunggyu seemed to like it too, although he wouldn’t remember any of it, which came as a surprise to Woohyun when the following Monday at school Sunggyu acted the same as usual. But everything wasn’t the same between them.

Woohyun didn’t know what to do with himself around the human Sunggyu. If Sunggyu had been evil, it would’ve been easier. Woohyun would’ve bit him, and Sunggyu would be gone by now. But now Woohyun _knew_ that Sunggyu was good. He couldn’t bite him. But he wanted to tell Sunggyu about everything, about Samjokgu, about werewolves, about it all. Woohyun finally had someone outside of his family to talk about it with! However, he couldn’t find the timing. He didn’t know how to bring it up. Sunggyu was so guarded about his personal life, and they didn’t have a relationship like that to begin with. If only if Sunggyu could remember…

It didn’t help that Woohyun was also given more shifts to patrol around to hunt down creatures. A few nights a week, he stay up and eat demons. He hated it. He hated life now. And he was starting to really hate Sunggyu right now for not remembering.

Woohyun just wanted someone to talk with, about all of this. But he had no one, so he wasn’t talking very much at all, which wasn’t like himself at all.

But then, Sunggyu talked to him, asked about how he was. And Woohyun finally told him. And Sunggyu ran away screaming.

* * *

A half an hour later, Sunggyu came shuffling back into the room. Their lunch break was nearly over, and classes were about to start again. Woohyun was wondering if the other would ever come back (and how he’d act when he did). Sunggyu was walking towards his desk with his hands in his pockets, acting completely normal, up until that point. He then proceeded to take every book, notebook, and folder from out of his desk and made a barrier with them to protect him from his deskmate.

Woohyun slinked over and slid into his seat. “What? Are you scared?” he asked, craning his neck to peer over the barrier.

Sunggyu flinched at his voice. “C-can you really kill things with just one bite?” he stammered.

“Eung.”

Sunggyu glared at Woohyun as his hands wrapped around the bottom of the seat. He picked his chair up and moved to the very edge of his desk. “Stay there,” he ordered the other. “Keep this much space between us at all times.”

Woohyun scoffed. “I won’t bite you.” Sunggyu didn’t seem convinced by that promise. “You’re harmless,” Woohyun added.

“How do you know?” Sunggyu retorted. He placed a hand over his chest. “I’m a ferocious beast.”

Woohyun scoffed again. “I’ve been playing fetch with you for the last couple of months,” he revealed. “Ferocious beast my ass.” He then placed his own hand over his chest. “I taught you how to roll over.” He chuckled at Sunggyu’s shocked face. “Are you really a werewolf or a werepuppy?” Woohyun teased.

“Werewolf!” Sunggyu snapped back in a hushed whisper. “I could kill someone if I wanted to. I just…don’t,” his voice dropped as he went on. His eyes fell onto the desk. “I’m domesticated,” he murmured barely moving his lips.

“See. You’re harmless,” Woohyun’s voice was laced with laughter. Suggyu lifted his head to glare at him again. “People with malicious spirits turn into evil monsters. You don’t have that,” Woohyun explained.

Sunggyu’s eyes softened. “What kind of spirit do I have?” he asked.

Woohyun shrugged. “Not an evil one, and that’s good enough for me,” he responded.

“Good,” Sunggyu spoke like a sigh. He seemed relieved. _Does he believe me?_ Woohyun thought. He began smiling at that thought. Sunggyu took down a part of the barrier. “Did I really roll over?” he whispered.

“Eung. I took a video,” Woohyun admitted as he was pulling out his phone from his pocket. He then pulled up the video and showed it to Sunggyu, while leaning over his shoulder and watching along.

Woohyun had been holding the phone, filming, and so all that was on screen was the large, red wolf, who was on his back tossing from side to side, like a turtle on its back. Then a hand appeared, helping the wolf to complete the roll. When the werewolf landed back on his feet, he looked at the camera (at Woohyun) excitedly. “Wow! Good job, Gyu! You finally got it!” the Woohyun in the phone praised. “Who’s a good boy?”

Sunggyu lunged over and grabbed at the phone. “Delete it! Delete it now!” he growled.

“No!” Woohyun fought back, trying to push the over away. “It’s my favorite.”

Sunggyu stilled. “Are there more?”

“N-no,” Woohyun stumbled through his lie.   
“There are, aren’t there?” Sunggyu caught him by his tail. “Yah!” He grabbed at his collar. “Delete them all!” Woohyun then pretended to snap at him, clanking his teeth together. Sunggyu immediately let him go and scooted away, sulking. “Do whatever you want,” he grumbled.

Woohyun smirked. This was going to be fun.

* * *

 _This is torture_ , Sunggyu thought as he fell onto his bed. _Samjokgu…this whole time…was he just playing with me?_ And how the Hell was Nam Woohyun a great dispeller of evils? The boy himself was an evil (at least he was to Sunggyu now). _Will…will he really not bite me?_ Sunggyu sat up straight as he mulled it over. Well, it had been years since they met. Woohyun had known this whole time. Woohyun hadn’t told anybody else this whole time. And Woohyun hadn’t bit him yet. Actually, Woohyun had played with Sunggyu as a werewolf (which would explain why he was so exhausted after every full moon). Woohyun thought he was good. _Maybe Woohyun is good too._

“Aish!” Sunggyu cursed as he ruffled his hair. All of this was making his head spin. When he opened his eyes again, they fell onto the bright yellow charm, still hanging right above his bed. His fingers went to grip the top of this. “Should I take this down now? He said he wouldn’t…but…” Sunggyu’s voice dropped along with his hand.

He left the charm on the wall. A little love never hurt anybody anyway.

* * *

The next day, Sunggyu went to school on his guard. He didn’t completely trust Woohyun yet. And Samjokgu only proved him right to act that way. When Sunggyu reached into his desk, he found something that only Nam Woohyun could’ve put in there. Sunggyu growled lowly and pulled it out, throwing it on top of his desk.

“What the Hell is this?” he asked his deskmate who was just sitting down. It was a dog collar, large enough for his own neck, leopard print, with tags on it. Sunggyu glanced down at the tags and growled again. One of them read “KkyuKkyu,” and the other had a phone number that he’d never seen before, which meant that it could only belong to one person.

“I was thinking, the next time you change, you should wear this,” Woohyun explained in a quiet voice. His finger looped around the collar. He picked it up and smirked while looking at it. “You know, in case you got lost or stuck in a ditch or something. I got you an animal print because you’re _so_ ferocious...and it was on sale.”

The werewolf ignored the last comment. “But why is your phone number on it?” Sunggyu retorted, pointing at the tag.

“Who better to look after you than me?” Woohyun replied, his smile grew wider. “If you get out of hand, I can just…” He snapped his teeth together and chuckled when Sunggyu jumped in his seat. “Besides, I’ve always wanted a dog, but my parents always said no.”

“I’m not a dog! I’m a…” Sunggyu realized he was shouting. He swallowed harshly and then chewed on his lips while he averted his gaze. “A human being,” he finally finished. He then pointed to the collar. “This is demeaning, and you’re a jerk.” He got up from his seat. “I really thought you’d understand,” he grumbled as he gathered up his things. After zipping up his bookbag, he raised his gaze, glaring fiercely at the other. His glare grew sharper as he pulled himself up straight. “And next full moon, don’t you dare play with me. Don’t even come near me. I’ll bite you. I swear to god I will,” he threatened. He then he began to walk away. But after a few steps, he turned back around and stomped towards Woohyun. “And it’s an akita! I look like an akita! Corgis have short, stubby legs. Mine are nice and long,” he hissed. “See!” he shouted as he pretended to kick at the other, stopping just millimeters away from Woohyun. Samjokgu flinched. Sunggyu put his foot back down smiling smugly. “Who’s scared now?” he retorted, raising both his hands up and tilting his chin up before turning around and going to sit by Dongwoo in the back of the classroom.

Woohyun clenched his fist around the collar tightly as he watched Sunggyu sat down. It was time to show the werewolf what he was really made of.

* * *

“Mom, do you think I should get tags?” Sunggyu asked when his family was gathered at the table for dinner.

“What?” she blubbered, disbelieving her ears.

“You know, in case I get lost or stuck in a ditch or something after transmuting,” Sunggyu responded.

His mother cocked her head and cast a glance at his father as she concluded, “It’s…definitely something to consider.”

* * *

The next day, Sunggyu didn’t really want to go to school. His teacher had been nice yesterday, letting him sit with Dongwoo, but after class, his teacher took him aside and told him to sort out whatever issue that he had with Woohyun. He’d have to sit next to the jerk today. Sunggyu stopped walking, threw his head back, and groaned. The fortuneteller said that he wasn’t cursed, but Sunggyu was really living a cursed life. But, Sunggyu supposed it was better than the alternative, not living, which he’d been afraid of recently. And there was still the promise of love in the near future. Sunggyu just hoped that didn’t end up being a bust too.

Sunggyu let out a heavy sigh and looked back down at his feet. He was about to take another step, but he stopped again. There was a dog sitting right in front of him right now. A sapsali with long black hair hanging over its eyes and a bright red collar around his neck. “Huh? What are you doing? Who owns you?” Sunggyu asked as he knelt right in front of it. “You must know what I am. A kindred spirit,” he whispered as he pat the dog’s head. The sapsali then stood up, and it was then when Sunggyu noticed that the dog only had three legs, two hind legs and only one front. “Whoa! Are you okay?” Sunggyu asked. The dog didn’t respond. Of course it didn’t. It was just a dog. Sunggyu immediately searched for the tags, hidden in the shaggy fur. “Ah here it is,” he muttered as he found the tag. He then read it. “Samjokgu” was written on the front and directions to a temple were written on the back. Sunggyu flipped the tags back and forth a few times until the realization hit him, and it hit him hard. He fell down onto his butt, whimpering.

Samjokgu then loomed over him, with his front paw pinning the werewolf to the ground. The dog then began to open its mouth. “Sunggyu! It’s me! Woohyun!”

“Holy shit!” Sunggyu shouted, slithering out from under the other, trying to get away.

But Samjokgu kept creeping closer and closer. “Why were you running away? Am I scary?” The dog was barking but Woohyun’s voice was coming out. Sunggyu shook his head violently, trying to kept his senses back in order. But he still saw the sapsali, still heard Woohyun’s voice.

“Why are you talking?!” Sunggyu finally asked. Woohyun cocked his head, acting innocent. Sunggyu groaned and got up to walk away. He was dreaming. He had to be dreaming. That dog wasn’t Woohyun, and that dog definitely wasn’t talking.

“Why are you walking away? Are you taking me somewhere? Where are we going?” Sunggyu looked down to see the black sapsali trotting right next to his side.

“Shut up!” Sunggyu snapped at the dog. His eyes darted around. There were a few people out this early in the morning, but the ones that were had their eyes fixed on the high schooler and the three-legged dog. “People are starting to look.”

“Woof!” Woohyun mimicked a dog barking. “Woof!” But it still sounded too human

“What kind of bark is that?” Sunggyu whispered.

“Ba-bark?” Woohyun tried again, stammering through it, unsure.

“That’s even worse,” Sunggyu murmured with a shake of his head. “Follow me,” he ordered and waved at the dog. He then darted into a nearby alley. “Hurry. Change back,” Sunggyu insisted with a stamp of his foot.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

Woohyun gave an embarrassed chuckle, which was strange to hear coming from a dog. It was like he was a hyena instead. “I don’t have clothes,” he admitted.

Sunggyu sighed and brought his book bag in front of him. He unzipped it and took out his gym clothes. He then threw them at the black dog. “I’ll turn around so you can change. Hurry up!” he said as he turned around. His back might’ve been turned towards Woohyun, but he wasn’t done talking, “Aish! Why did you do this if you didn’t have any clothes? Were you trying to scare me? Were…are you going to bite me?”

“Not if I don’t have to,” Woohyun replied. A hand then clapped onto Sunggyu’s shoulder. He jumped up. “You can turn around now.”

Sunggyu spun around and stepped away from the other. “Woohyun, what are you doing?” he asked as if the other were crazy.

“I wanted to show you that I understand,” (now human) Woohyun responded with a sad smile, sad that Sunggyu didn’t see his intentions. “I know what it’s like to be a dog,” he joked.

Sunggyu scoffed. “I’m a werewolf. _You’re_ a dog,” he pointed out.

“Do you _want_ me to bite you?” Woohyun retorted.

Sunggyu shook his head violently. “I’m just saying. We’re a bit different, but…” he tried to explain himself with the warmest smile that he could muster. “It’s nice to have someone who understands.” No one else Sunggyu knew could relate to him on that level. No one else knew what it was like to have a beast inside of them. Woohyun did though.

“It is!” Woohyun agreed happily.

They then smiled at each other for a few seconds, the both of them basking in the promise of a new relationship. But then Sunggyu remembered where they were supposed to be. “School!” he exclaimed. And with that the both of them darted out of the alley and headed towards the school. As they were running, something red caught his eye. “Yah yah yah! Take this off.” He stopped the both of them and hooked his finger underneath Woohyun’s collar.

“Oh right,” Woohyun muttered as he took the collar off. “Hey! Race you!” he suggested and took off before Sunggyu could agree to it. But Woohyun knew that the other would anyway.

And just like that, their rivalry was back on.

* * *

When they sat down at their desks, there was no barrier, no collar, no awkwardness between them. Everything was as it used to be. They even did their usual staring contest. Everything was as normal as it could be for a werewolf and a mystical three-legged dog.

That was until Sunggyu got a papercut. Fur was blooming in between the small split, making it wider and traveling down his finger. Sunggyu cursed under his breath as he wrapped his finger tightly with his other hand. He looked around himself nervously. Maybe he could excuse himself and go buy a band-aid or…

“Did you get a cut?” Woohyun asked.

“Yea,” Sunggyu admitted. “It’s a papercut, but it’s getting bigger.”

Woohyun looked down at Sunggyu’s covered finger and then back up at the other. “This is only going to be weird if you make it weird,” he hushed.

“What?”

“Hand,” Woohyun commanded, offering his own hand. Sunggyu just stared at the hand blankly. “Aish! Just give it to me,” Woohyun lost his patience and grabbed the other’s hand. He pried Sunggyu’s hand off of the other, freeing the furry finger, for only a second. Woohyun placed the finger in his mouth and swiped his tongue around it. Sunggyu didn’t know how to react at the sudden gesture. When he finally realized what was happening, he was going to tug it out, but Woohyun pulled the finger out of his mouth before Sunggyu could. And the finger was normal and hairless. “Good as new,” Woohyun announced proudly.

“Wow,” Sunggyu blubbered in disbelief. There was an amused smile on his face as he studied the finger. There wasn’t a hair in sight. “How did you know that was going to work?”

“I didn’t. I just guessed,” Woohyun admitted quietly. He tried to keep his face straight, but the tips of his ears were turning red. He was embarrassed, probably as embarrassed as Sunggyu felt right now too.

The smile fell away from Sunggyu’s face. He grimaced and wiped his hand on Woohyun’s blazer. “You’re weird,” Sunggyu hissed and brought his hands back in front of him.

“At least I don’t bleed fur,” Woohyun retorted and stuck out his tongue.

The two of them didn’t say a word to each other for the rest of the day. It had become awkward again. Sunggyu couldn’t even look at Woohyun, or his finger. It felt weird now, his finger, the atmosphere, all of him. But things soon changed as he was packing up his bag at the end of the day. He was stuffing worksheets into his bag and one of the edges slid across his finger, slicing it. Red fur sprouted out of the tip of his finger. Sunggyu covered his finger with his hand and spun around towards his deskmate. “Woohyunnie,” he called out to the other, smiling sheepishly.

“What?” Woohyun muttered. But after he faced the other, he noticed Sunggyu holding his finger again. “Again?” he asked with a scoff.

“Just one more time,” Sunggyu begged as he slid back into his seat. “Just one more.” He was now pressing his finger against the other’s lips.

Woohyun’s eyes widened as he pulled his head (and lips) away. “This is the last time,” however he still agreed to help the other. He then took the book in front of him and propped it up. He hid behind it, his head hovering lowly over the desk. Sunggyu lowered his head as well. He then put his injured finger into Woohyun’s open mouth.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Nothing!” Sunggyu and Woohyun immediately answered, although Woohyun’s voice was muffled. Sunggyu’s finger was still in his mouth, and the book fell away, revealing the whole scene to Myungsoo who had the misfortune to approach their desks at this time.

Myungsoo shook his head and walked away. “You guys are weird.”

* * *

They were weird, complete weirdoes, but weirdoes that understood each other. Now they not only competed against each other, but they also talked with each other. They talked to great extents about the pains of being a “mythical” creature. After speaking with Woohyun, Sunggyu’s eyes were opened more to the magical world, seeing things that he hadn’t seen before, like the owner of the stand that they visited outside of the school was a kkangcheoli and had interesting stories to tell after being alive for over 1,000 years. Sunggyu didn’t know if he was as enlightening for Woohyun, but he knew the Samjokgu enjoyed hearing about pains that they both shared (fleas were a real concern for them and also being colorblind).

But there were some pains that weren’t shared between them. “It’s not fair,” Sunggyu blurted out one day as they were sitting at the stand and eating.

“What’s not fair?” Woohyun asked with his mouth full of food.

“When you transform, you’re still…with it. You can think. You can talk. You still remember what happens afterwards. Can transform on your own free will,” Sunggyu lamented. He then sighed and his shoulders sagged. “I can’t do any of that,” he mumbled.

“Yea,” Woohyun paused to swallow. “But I have to spend my life biting evil creatures.” As if for emphasis, he tore at the piece of jokbal with his fangs.

Sunggyu nodded and took a piece for himself. “I guess not remembering isn’t too bad. I’d rather not remember than bite ghosts,” he concluded. He then nudged the other. “Hey. When did you start changing?”

“When I turned 15. It’s a family thing,” Woohyun answered. “Is it genetic for you too?”

Sunggyu pouted and shook his head. “No. No one knows why I’m like this. I’ve been like this since I was born,” he explained and then stuffed his mouth with more food.

“Really?”

“Eung,” Sunggyu hummed, his cheeks stuffed full. He chewed for a bit until he could speak. “I have the pictures to prove it. I’m a little wolf cub in a crib. I was _really_ cute,” he bragged.

Woohyun laughed. “You have to show me sometime,” he said.

“I will,” Sunggyu promised. “Do you really live at that temple on your tags?”

“Yep,” Woohyun replied with a sharp nod.

“What’s that like?”

Woohyun heaved a large sigh and placed his utensils down. He rubbed his tired face. “As bad as you think it is,” he grumbled. “Morning prayers. The chanting. The food, all the vegetables,” he lamented. “They know I’m a dog, but they feed me like a rabbit.”

Sunggyu held in a laugh. It was no wonder why they always went to eat jokbal and why Woohyun always had sausages in his pockets now. With his patrol now, he needed to restore his strength now more than ever. And Sunggyu, well, he was always happy to have an excuse to eat more meat. Speaking of which, “Do you want to eat dinner at my place? My mom feeds me meat,” Sunggyu offered (and bragged).

Woohyun’s eyes lit up. “Can I?”

* * *

After they were finished at the cart and with studying a bit more, Sunggyu brought Woohyun to his house for dinner (and meat!). “Mom! Dad!” Sunggyu called his parents as he opened the door. They both came to the door to greet him (much like a sitcom-family in Woohyun’s opinion). Sunggyu then gestured over to Woohyun as he was slipping off his shoes. “I brought a friend over for dinner. This is Nam Woohyun. He’s a dog too!”

His mother’s face lit up. “You made a werewolf friend?” she asked excitedly and gripped at her husband’s arm. It was as if she’d been waiting for this moment for a long time.

“No, m’am. I’m a different kind of dog,” Woohyun responded with a shake of his head. He then held up three fingers proudly. “I have three legs,” he hinted.

The mother’s grip on her husband tightened, and even Sunggyu’s stone-faced dad grew more sullen. “Three?” she repeated.

Woohyun nodded. “Yes, m’am. Three.”

“Samjokgu?!” she exclaimed, taking a step back. Sunggyu’s father stepped back with her, but not until he hooked his finger around Sunggyu’s shirt collar and pulled their son back with him.

“Oh? You know him, Mom?” Sunggyu asked excitedly, not noticing the terror on both of his parent’s faces.

“Do _you_ know?” she turned the question back around.

“Eung,” Sunggyu hummed with a sharp nodded. He then slipped out of his dad’s gripped and returned to Woohyun’s side, putting his hand on the other’s shoulder. “He already told me that he’s not going to bite me,” he tried to allay his parents’ fears, but they still looked worried.

“That’s right,” Woohyun added, defending himself. He grinned warmly at the parents and reached up to pat the werewolf on the head. “He’s a good boy so I’m not going to bite him.”

“Shut up,” Sunggyu snapped back and slapped the hand away. His hand was still on Woohyun’s shoulder and he pulled the other down the hall, past his parents, with him. “Mom, we’re going to go to my room, okay,” he announced as they made their way down.

“Oh, okay. I’ll call you when dinner’s ready,” she anxiously shouted after him. Sunggyu chuckled to himself as he reached his bedroom door. His dad was probably already going for the tranquilizer just in case Woohyun got “out of hand,” which made Sunggyu happy because he only saw it be a ward against him. It was nice to have something scarier in the house than Sunggyu for once.

This was also the first time that Sunggyu had ever had a friend over to his place. It was too risky to have strangers come over. There were dog things and old pictures of Sunggyu in his wolf form all over the house, but no actual dog. People would question it, especially after seeing Sunggyu’s room.

“So this is my room,” the werewolf announced as he opened the door. “Does your room at the temple look like this too?” he asked as he plopped down onto his bed.

Woohyun looked around incredulously. “Your parents make you sleep on a dog bed?”

Sunggyu shook his head adamantly. “It’s not a dog bed. It’s a large, circular futon!” he argued. “And it’s comfy, especially if you curl up like this.” The werewolf showed the other as he curled up into a ball. He glanced up at the other. “It’s not weird at all.”

But it was. And it was a human-sized dog bed. Sunggyu had tried out a real, human bed, but he still preferred this. There were sometimes when he left the animal in him win.

Woohyun plopped down on the floor next to him. “It is,” he teased with a smile.

Sunggyu unfurled himself and sat up. “What do you sleep on?” he tried to change the subject.

“Lately nothing,” Woohyun responded, yawning and rubbing his eyes. “I haven’t been sleeping much.” Even talking about sleep made him tired.

“Oh, I can tell,” Sunggyu blurted out, scooting over and patting the space on the bed besides him, urging Woohyun to sit down with him.

Woohyun graciously accepted, laying down in a ball next to the other. “Really?” he asked through a yawn.

“Yea,” Sunggyu muttered. “You look like you’re about to pass out some days,” he lightened up his serious words with a laugh (he didn’t want Woohyun to think he actually cared…but he did).

“I want to sometimes,” Woohyun admitted, laughing along. He then squirmed and sat up. The atmosphere must’ve been making him anxious too. Also something had caught his eye. Woohyun’s head snapped towards the wall and a sly grin spread across his face. “Why do you have a _love_ charm?” he asked in a teasing tone.

“Why does everyone know what this is?” Sunggyu grumbled lowly, glaring at the charm. He then shifted his glare to the other as he defended himself: “I took it from the fortune teller. I thought if you were going to eat me, I might as well fall in love first.”

“Well, I’m not going to eat you, so you can take it down,” Woohyun told him and was already reaching over Sunggyu in order to take the charm down from the wall.

But the werewolf wouldn’t let him. “Ah! No, no, no!” Sunggyu yelled as he flailed, trying to catch Woohyun’s arms, and when he did, he pinned the other down onto the bed. “Just leave it there,” Sunggyu asked of the other. He then cleared his throat, face heating up, and let Woohyun go. “I can’t believe you were going to ruin my chances at love. What did I ever do to you?” the werewolf tried to joke, narrowing his eyes on the other and pretending to be mad.

“Sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” Woohyun apologized. His face was growing more and more sullen as he stared at the yellow charm. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it. Sunggyu looked at it too, wondering what was so fascinating about it. “So, is it actually working? Are you in love?” Woohyun asked as they were both staring at it.

“I don’t know,” Sunggyu confessed. He then let out an embarrassed chuckle. “At least I don’t think I am,” he added. To be honest, he hadn’t put much thought into the charm after he found out about Woohyun being Samjokgu, not after the first night. He’d forgotten about it. But now that he _was_ thinking about the charm again, Sunggyu’s mind was running haywire. Was he in love? Did someone love him? _Maybe_. “I’m starting to think it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Now I’m thinking that everyone is in love with me.”

“Like who?” Woohyun asked with a scoff.

“Hyelin, Seyoung…Dongwoo,” Sunggyu listed, adding the last one as a joke (sort of, because the more he thought about Dongwoo, the more Sunggyu saw the possibility of it).

“Dongwoo?” Woohyun repeated.

“Yea, he hugs me a lot. Like a lot a lot,” the werewolf explained. Dongwoo’s skinship with Sunggyu had increased much this year too. Was it possible?

“Eh, he does that to everybody,” Woohyun shut that possibility down. “Even me. I mean, Dongwoo _likes_ you, but not like that.”

“Oh,” Sunggyu conceded with a short nod. He looked over at the other. “What about the others?”

Woohyun gave a small smile and shook his head. “I’m pretty sure Hyelin is seeing someone from that all boys school,” he revealed.

“Oh,” Sunggyu muttered and slumped, eyes cast down to his lap. “I guess no one loves me then.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Woohyun spoke quietly, but Sunggyu’s sharp ears caught it. His head snapped up and his gaze met Woohyun’s. Samjokgu still had that smile on his face. “Your mom loves you,” he teased.

“Shut up,” Sunggyu snapped and hit the other in the arm. Sunggyu was trying to be serious, but trust his rival to use this opportunity to make fun of him. Woohyun tried to lean away from the other, but he couldn’t avoid Sunggyu’s hits. The werewolf just leaned forward and kept on hitting (with a big smile on his face). After receiving much abuse, Woohyun finally snapped at Sunggyu, baring his teeth. And Sunggyu automatically retreated. “Sorry,” the werewolf apologized as he gingerly rubbed the spot on the arm where he was hitting the other.

When Sunggyu’s hand fell away, Woohyun started to rub his sore arm. “What about you?” he muttered, pouting at his arm.

“Huh?”

Woohyun glanced up at the other. “Is there someone that you think you might like?” he asked. His gaze dropped down to his arm again. “Or are you just going to love whoever loves you?”

“Oh, I hadn’t really thought about it like that,” Sunggyu admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. It was warm to the touch, so his hand quickly fell away and down into his lap. “I kind of just thought I’d naturally love whoever loved me,” Sunggyu began. He then cocked his head. “But that doesn’t always happen, does it?” He looked over at Woohyun panicked. “What if someone loves me but I love someone else and that someone else loves someone else who loves someone else?” he added one person into the equation after another. Sunggyu then pointed at the charm. “It only said that _I’d_ find love this year, and not that it’d find _me_!” His eyes flew over to the wall. “Maybe I should take that charm down,” he concluded, his hand already moving up to take the charm down.

But then a hand covered his. Woohyun pulled Sunggyu’s hand from the wall and quickly let it go. “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Samjokgu insisted. “Besides, I’m not going to eat you. You have time to love.”

“Right. Right,” Sunggyu mumbled under his breath. “Thanks for not eating me,” he was surprised that he hadn’t thanked the other for it until now.

Woohyun smiled brightly. “No problem,” he chirped back.

Sunggyu looked away, biting back his own smile from growing too large (once again, he didn’t want the other to think that he cared, or was affected). The werewolf then cleared his throat and pouted. “But if I get my heartbroken. It’s your fault,” Sunggyu told him. He then pointed at the charm. “Because you stopped me from taking it down.”

“Sure. Whatever,” Woohyun replied with a shrug. “I’ll take responsibility.”

“Huh?” Sunggyu hadn’t really expected Woohyun to agree to it.

“Boys! Dinner!” Sunggyu’s mother called out to them. And the two dogs immediately dropped any other thoughts that they had that weren’t about food (MEAT!) and ran out of the room excitedly. If they had tails, they’d surely be wagging.

* * *

During his time at Sunggyu’s place, Woohyun could see why Sunggyu ended up the way that he was, not the werewolf part but being good. Sunggyu really was domesticated. Unlike Woohyun who had been a (mostly regular) human his whole life and now was becoming a dog, Sunggyu was more like a dog trying to become human. His parents had been diligent in raising/training him (his sister too, Woohyun just learned the werewolf had a human sister). At home, Sunggyu was a bit more _unrestrained_ , which meant he slipped up fairly often and gave into his primal instincts. His parents kept a spray bottle on the table. And whenever Sunggyu would forgo utensils and eat his food with just his mouth and tongue like a dog, his dad would call out his son’s name and just eye the spray bottle, and Sunggyu would stand up straight again, picking up his utensils. While they were strict with him, it was also obvious that Sunggyu’s parents loved him. They trained him to be human, yes, but they didn’t entirely change him. They let Sunggyu be both a human _and_ a wolf. They didn’t try to hide him entirely. The pictures of the red wolf all over their walls were proof of that.

It was the same yet very different from the house that Woohyun grew up in. His home also embraced his true nature, but also embraced everything magical and spiritual. Woohyun’s upbringing had also been strict, but it was ceremonious. Everything that they did was accompanied by ritualistic words and actions. His parents were loving, but largely absent from his life. His father was fighting demons, and his mother was always tending to the temple and praying. It was rather lonely, whereas it seemed like Sunggyu’s family spent a lot of time together.

Woohyun was jealous. And maybe that’s why his mood noticeably soured as the night went on. Sunggyu kept asking what was wrong, and Woohyun would excuse himself, saying that he was just tired. It was a lie, but Sunggyu seemed to buy it. And after dinner, Sunggyu sent him off so that Woohyun could go home to sleep.

But before he left, Woohyun had a question that he wanted to ask: “Can I see you the next full moon?”

Sunggyu looked taken aback by the question. “When I transmute?” he asked for clarification. Woohyun nodded. Apparently the werewolf had already forgotten what he had said days before (and his grudge) because he readily agreed, “Uh, sure, I guess.” He chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Why?”

Woohyun shrugged. “It’s fun,” that was part of the reason.

Sunggyu accepted it, pursing his lips as he nodded. “Okay. Just don’t do anything weird,” he warned the other.

“I promise,” Woohyun replied as he slipped on his shoes. “Trust me.” And he thought that Sunggyu was really starting to too.

“Alright, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night,” Sunggyu said as he walked the other up to the door and opened it.

Woohyun grinned and stepped outside. “See you then,” he spoke like a whisper, like it was their secret, and then left.

* * *

Woohyun came back though, the next night, when the moon was full and hanging high in the dark blue sky. He waited, leaning against the fence of Sunggyu’s house and throwing a tennis ball up in the air and catching it again. He didn’t have to wait for too long. Woohyun’s timing was getting better, only showing up a few minutes before Sunggyu transmuted. Soon enough, there was a howl piercing through the air. Woohyun laughed and caught the ball, stuffing it into his pocket. And soon the giant corgi (or bobtailed akita depending on how you looked at him) came bounding out of the house. After meeting several times during these nights, the wolf knew exactly where to find Woohyun and ran right up to him. Woohyun knelt down and opened his arms up to welcome the werewolf with a hug, and Sunggyu ran right into those arms. “It’s good to see you too, buddy,” Woohyun said, giving the other a tight squeeze. He then dropped his arms and fished something from out of his pocket. It was the collar that he’d gotten for Sunggyu a few weeks back. He put it around the wolf’s neck. It fit just right, like it had the time before and the time before that. Woohyun sighed as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and studied the patient beast in front of him. “Why can’t you be like this all of the time?” Woohyun asked the werewolf. Sunggyu tilted his head to the side in response and perked his ears. But Woohyun still didn’t move. He kept looking at the red wolf, sighing again, as a myriad of thoughts darted back and forth in his head. The werewolf then stepped forward and licked Woohyun’s face. Woohyun wasn’t surprised. It’d happened before. But it did snap him out of his thoughts. He cupped Sunggyu’s face with both of his hands, pulling it away so that they could look at each other eye-to-eye. “Really, why can’t you be like this all the time?” he asked as he played with the wolf’s cheeks, pushing them up. “And you’re not in love with anyone? Hm?” Woohyun stopped abusing the wolf’s face and returned his hands into his pockets. “I know what you really love,” he declared as he stood back up. He took a sausage out of his pocket. Sunggyu immediately sat down with his eyes fixed on the treat. “Gyu, shake,” Woohyun commanded, holding his hand out. Sunggyu leaned back further and further, looking like he might topple over. “No, shake. What are you even doing right now?” Woohyun asked as the wolf brought both paws up to his chest and then put them back down on the ground. “Shake, Sunggyu!” Woohyun lost his patience, knelt down, and picked up one of the paws, shaking it in his hand. With his other hand, he fed the werewolf part of the sausage. “How the Hell do you get better grades than I do? Huh?” Woohyun muttered under his breath as he watched the other lick his jowls. Then Sunggyu leaned forward and licked Woohyun’s face again. “Y-yah!” the human yelled with a laugh.

That was the thing about dogs (and apparently werewolves). Those animals aren’t afraid to let their true feelings show. Unlike more “rational” creatures (humans), dogs don’t bury their feelings under heaps of pride and reason. They show that they like you because they _do_ like you. There’s nothing fake about their feelings. It’s all genuine, all real. And so, that meant Sunggyu’s feelings for Woohyun were real too. Sunggyu liked him. But how Sunggyu liked him Woohyun didn’t know. Was it because they were friendly towards each other now? Was it because Woohyun always had treats in his pocket? Was it love?

Woohyun didn’t know. And he also didn’t know how to interpret his own feelings for the werewolf either. He’ll just kiss the top of the giant corgi’s head, trying to give it much thought. Woohyun kissed him because red wolf was being cute. Sunggyu as a wolf was cute, and that’s all it was.

Right?

* * *

Sunggyu woke up feeling tired. He wanted nothing more than just to go back asleep. Okay, there was one thing he wanted more. He wanted to remember what he did last night, what he did with Woohyun. Sunggyu’s hand went to his neck. And he wanted to know why the Hell was he wearing a dog collar right now.

Sunggyu rolled to onto his stomach, groaning. Okay, maybe he did know the reason for the last thing. “Aish, Nam Woohyun!”

* * *

Tired or not, Sunggyu’s mother still forced him to go to school. It was close to the exam period. He couldn’t afford to miss school. Also there was something that he needed to return. And luckily, Sunggyu caught Woohyun outside of the school’s gates. “This is yours,” Sunggyu mumbled lowly to the other as he shoved the leopard print dog collar at the other’s stomach.

Woohyun took a hold of the collar and looked down at it, turning it in his hands. “It’s dangerous to go around without tags on. People think you’re a stray, and you could end up at a shelter. It happened to my dad a couple of times,” he explained himself in a small voice. He then raised his head again, showing a thin smile. “Even giant corgis, I mean akitas, could get snatched up by animal control,” he joked. Woohyun offered it to the other, letting the collar dangle from the tips of his fingers. “Keep it,” he urged.

“Okay,” Sunggyu gave in and took back the collar. The collar wasn’t meant to be demeaning or to show “ownership.” It was meant to protect him, to show the whole world that Sunggyu was large but not a threat, that he was really domesticated. Sunggyu pulled his bag around and shoved the collar back inside. “Why do you like playing with me so much?” he asked as he turned the bag back around, pulling at the straps at his shoulder. “Wolf me, I mean,” he clarified.

Woohyun shrugged. “It’s fun,” he gave the same reason as a couple of nights ago.

“Can I play with you?” Sunggyu blurted out. Woohyun raised an eyebrow. “As Samjokgu. I wanna see what it’s like,” Sunggyu corrected himself, but Woohyun’s eyebrow only arched higher, and then the other brow followed. “Come on, it’s only fair,” Sunggyu whined.

“Okay, it’s only fair,” Woohyun responded reluctantly. He tucked his lips into his mouth as he thought it over, looking over at the school gates. “Let’s do it today and go to the park after school.” His gaze returned to Sunggyu. “Are you free?”

Sunggyu grinned. “Yea, yea I am.”

* * *

When Sunggyu first saw Woohyun as Samjokgu, he was jealous because his rival seemed to be “with it” more mentally. But now seeing Woohyun again as a sapsali, Sunggyu realized that Woohyun wasn’t as “with it” as he thought. In fact Woohyun lost his mind a bit when he was a dog. Case in point, right now, when they were at the dog park, Samjokgu was darting back and forth from one side of the park to the other, shouting whenever he passed by Sunggyu who was standing still.

“Look at how fast I can run!” Woohyun yelled as he went past.

“Look, I’m over here,” he shouted as he when back to the other side.

Back. “Now I’m over here!”

And forth. “Now here!”

Back. “Here!”

And forth. “Yah! Catch me!”

And back again. “You can’t! You can’t catch me! I’m too fast!”

“Are you tired now?” Sunggyu asked when Woohyun walked slowly back and plopped down in front of him, panting heavily.

“Eung,” the sapsali hummed.

Sunggyu pouted as he fished his hand into his pocket. “Then what am I supposed to do with this…ball?” he asked as he pulled out the tennis ball with a flourish.

“Ball?!” Woohyun exclaimed as he got back onto his three paws. “Throw it! You throw the ball!” he barked.

“Okay, I’ll throw it,” Sunggyu promised with a laugh. He then crouched down next to Samjokgu. “But you’ll have to be quiet,” Sunggyu whispered, bringing a finger up to his lips. “More people are coming in, and they’ll flip out if they see a talking dog. So be a good, quiet boy, and I’ll throw the ball.” Woohyun sat down and snapped his panting mouth shut. His eyes were wide and locked on the ball in Sunggyu’s hand. Samjokgu was listening as attentively as he could to the werewolf. “Good boy,” Sunggyu praised, patting his head. “Now…go fetch!” he shouted as he threw the ball as far as he could, and laughed to himself as he watched Woohyun bound after it.

Sunggyu should’ve seen this coming. If Woohyun was a nut for soccer, then Samjokgu would be a nut for fetch. Sunggyu’s arm was starting to hurt from throwing the ball so much, and Woohyun miraculously hadn’t tired yet. But it was fun for the both of them. Sunggyu was starting to see why Woohyun came to play with him every full moon. While Woohyun was chasing after the ball (a little more slowly this time), a middle-aged dog owner came up to talk with Sunggyu. “Is that your dog?” she asked, pointing to the sapsali now picking up the ball in his mouth.

“Uh, um, yes he is,” Sunggyu stammered sheepishly. Woohyun wasn’t his, not like that.

The dog owner leaned in and asked in a low voice as if the dogs could understand (only one could), “What happened to him?”

“Hm?”

“The leg,” she clarified, pointing over at Woohyun.

“Oh, right,” Sunggyu blubbered. He guessed that he’d gotten used to Woohyun like that. After all, Samjokgu wouldn’t be Samjokgu without his three legs. “Woohyunnie was born that way, but it doesn’t slow him down. Sometimes I wish it would,” he joked. The werewolf then looked for the other again, and he clicked his tongue, chidingly after he did. Woohyun had found another ball and was now trying to fit both of them into his small mouth (because what was better than Sunggyu throwing one ball over and over again was Sunggyu throwing _two_ balls over and over again). “Woohyun-ah! What are you going? Get over here!” Sunggyu shouted at him. Surprisingly, the dog dropped both balls and ran over excitedly.

“Oh, he’s very obedient,” the dog owner was impressed. “He must be a smart dog.”

“Eh, he’s not that smart. I scored better than him on the last Calc test,” Sunggyu replied without even thinking. He didn’t realize what he had said until he noticed the confused expression on the lady’s face. “It’s a joke. A joke,” he excused himself. Luckily Woohyun had come to him just in time and saved him from this floundering conversation. Sunggyu ran his hand from the black dog’s head to his back, combing his fingers through the shaggy hair. He then patted the dog on the back a few time. “Come on, let’s go over there,” Sunggyu told him and pointed at a bench nearby. “Bye!” he waved to the lady as they left.

Sunggyu fell into the bench with a groan. He was worn out, and he wasn’t the one who’d been running the entire time. Woohyun trotted along with him and sat right at Sunggyu’s knee. “This was fun, wasn’t it?” Sunggyu muttered. His hand went to the dog’s head again and began playing with the long ears. “It’s nice just to be outside after studying all day. And it’s the same thing every day, day in and day out. It drives me crazy,” Sunggyu continued, pausing to shake his head. “I can see why it’s nice to just come outside and play like this.” His hand was now on the sapsali’s muzzle, running down it and testing the dog’s patience. And the dog lost the last shred of patience it had. It wiggled away from Sunggyu’s touch. “H-hey!” the werewolf blurted out in surprise. Samjokgu was now licking his hand. A smile spread across his face, but the corners of his mouth quickly downturned. He was stopping; Woohyun hadn’t stopped licking his hand. “O-oh,” slipped out of Sunggyu’s open mouth. “Woohyun-ah, do you like me?”

Woohyun stopped and got up onto his feet, ears alert and his body stiff. He turned away from Sunggyu as if he heard a noise come from the other side of the park. Curious, Sunggyu followed his gaze. There was nothing over there. Sunggyu sighed. “I know that you can hear me,” he told the other. “Do you like me?”

Woohyun’s head snapped back to look at the werewolf. “I…I got to go now,” he spoke with a low growl before shooting off towards the fence.

“Woohyun-ah!” Sunggyu shouted after the dog and jumped up from the bench. He ran after him. But Woohyun had been right. Sunggyu couldn’t catch him. Samjokgu built up speed and jumped over the fence. He really was a magical dog.

* * *

If Sunggyu woke up tired that day, he came back home from the park exhausted and spiritless. He came inside and didn’t even greet his parents. He just went straight into his bedroom and curled up on his bed. Sleep, Sunggyu was just going to sleep this day away and pretend like it all had been a dream. And it very well could be because it had a talking dog and everything. A talking dog that he might’ve ruined his relationship with. “Aish!” Sunggyu cursed and flipped over onto his other side. But before his drooping eyes closed, he caught sight of something bright yellow on the ground, where it shouldn’t be. The love charm had fallen off of the wall. Sunggyu shot up straight. “Did I ruin it?” Sunggyu quickly picked it up and tried to stick it back up on the wall. The charm fell down again. And so the werewolf tried again and again and again. But every time the yellow charm would flutter back down onto the ground. “I ruined it. I really did,” Sunggyu muttered barely moving his lips. He then sniffed loudly, trying to hold it all back (but was failing at that as well). I ruined my chances at love.

And so Sunggyu picked up the charm again, crumpled it up, and tossed it into the corner of the room. The darkest corner, where his love could go and die.

* * *

“Sunggyu?” Later that night, his mother knocked on the door anxiously, calling his name. Sunggyu murmured in response, and his mom took at as permission enough to enter the room. “It’s time for dinner,” she spoke softly at her son’s back. He was still curled up into a ball on his bed. He gave a low growl in response. He wasn’t hungry.

“Oh, Sunggyu-ya! The love charm fell off!” she exclaimed, stepping up next to her son.

“I know,” Sunggyu finally spoke and curled up even tighter.

“Who is it?”

Sunggyu unfurled and rolled over to look at his mother. “Huh?”

“The person that you like. Who is it?” she asked again, sitting on the ground next to her son. She then waved her hand in the air. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell your mom.”

“W-wait!” Sunggyu stammered as he bolted upright. He pointed over to the charm. “Wh-why did it fall off?”

“It’s already worked it’s magic. There’s no reason for it to hang around any more,” she explained as if it were common knowledge. Sunggyu was stunned, mouth hanging wide open and his eyes darted all over the room as if the answer was somewhere in there. His mother snorted and nudged him playfully. “Yah. Do I know who it is?”

Sunggyu didn’t hear his mother’s question. He was scrambling onto his feet. “Mom, I’m going out,” he told her as he grabbed his jacket and ran out the room. His mother followed him out.

“Oh! Where?” she asked, watching her son struggle to put on his shoes in a hurry.

“The temple!” he replied. He then waved with a great grin on his face. “Bye!”

“The temple?” His father had come out of the kitchen to see what all of the noise was about and had only caught the tail-end of the conversation. “Is that were kids hang out nowadays?” he asked his wife.

She shrugged. “Our son is a strange one,” she answered. “At least going to the temple to pray is better than drinking.”

“True,” the old man agreed. The both of them were still staring at the door. “He really is a good boy.”

* * *

Sunggyu had no idea where the temple was. Fortunately the cab driver knew where it was, but unfortunately the temple was on a mountain and the road up to it was too narrow for a car to pass safely through. Sunggyu would have to climb up the mountain on foot. It would’ve been easier if he was in his wolf-form, but he wasn't. So Sunggyu had to take several breaks as he made his way up to the temple. He did eventually make it to the temple and collapsed onto his hands and knees when he got there. He dropped down onto his back, breathing heavily. He nearly died. That hike nearly killed him. But it should be worth it. And with that thought, Sunggyu gathered up the strength (and the breath) to pick himself back up.

“Oh?” As Sunggyu got up, he finally took in his surroundings. The temple was large and impressive but Sunggyu’s eyes lingered on the bush nearby. It was rustling. As it moved, Sunggyu could see a pair of glowing eyes behind the leaves. “Woohyun?” he whispered. Sunggyu stood up and walked over to the bushes. “Woohyun-ah, come out! I want to talk to you. About earlier.” He gulped nervously and stepped closer. The eyes were now bigger and brighter. Woohyun was coming closer too. “I didn’t mean to…I didn’t want to force you…If you don’t…” Sunggyu stopped to swallow again. His throat felt tight. “Woohyun, just come out of there,” he begged with a shaking voice.

The entire began to shake violently. A sudden chill ran down his spine. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t Woohyun. Then a shriek pierced the air and the eyes glowed red. Sunggyu back peddled, trying to get away, but he tripped over his own feet and fell onto his butt. A ghost shot out from the bush, heading straight for the werewolf with its long, pale fingers stretched out to him. Sunggyu shut his eyes tightly. This was it. This was the end.

“Get up!” Sunggyu opened his eyes to see something dark jump between him and the ghost. In the dim light, Sunggyu could see the bright red collar around the creature’s neck. It was Woohyun. “Run!” the dog barked at the other. And Sunggyu did as he was told. He scampered away to the other side of the yard, hiding behind a small shed. Shaking with fear, panting heavily, Sunggyu peered around the side of the shed. He looked just in time to see Samjokgu sink its fangs into the ghost, and the spirit immediately burst into dust, flying away in the wind. The werewolf hid back behind the safety of his shed. His hand was over his racing heart. Was it really that easy? Was it really that easily for Samjokgu to defeat something? _If that was me_ …

“What are you doing here?”

“AISH!” Sunggyu yelped. He looked down to see the sapsali with his head around the corner. “You surprised me,” the werewolf spoke, exasperated and slid down onto the ground.

“Sorry,” the dog apologized and walked up in front of Sunggyu. He sat down. “Why are you here?” he asked again.

“I wanted to…” Sunggyu began but he soon stopped. Did he was to apologize? No, not really. “I wanted to see you,” he finished after some moments of consideration.

“Well, I’m here,” Woohyun replied, getting up to sit next to the other’s side.

Sunggyu tried his best to be still as Samgokju sat down next to him, shoulder to shoulder. It was hard now after seeing how easily the great dispeller of evils could, well, dispel evil. But unlike the ghost, Sunggyu was good. He just needed to remind himself of that, and keep being good. “Thanks for earlier,” Sunggyu spoke again. “Was that really a ghost?”

“Yea,” Woohyun muttered. His head moved around, scanning the area while letting out a huff. “They are everywhere on this mountain.”

“And you bite them?” Sunggyu asked. The dog faced him again and nodded. “Are there anything else around here?”

Woohyun went back to scanning his surroundings. “There are things everywhere. Ghost, dokkaebi, gumihos, bulyeowoos, vampires, werewolves,” he listed. “I can see them all. It’s scary.” When he ended, he stared back at Sunggyu and whimpered.

Sunggyu’s hand went to pat the other’s head. “We’re not all that scary,” he comforted the other. “I’m not scary.” Sunggyu realized what he was doing right as Woohyun began leaning into his touch as he was scratching the dog’s ears. Sunggyu brought his hands into his lap, and his gaze fell down to them. “This is strange. I want to talk to you seriously, and it’s hard when you’re a dog. Can you go change?” he asked with a slight laugh. It was a ridiculous request but so was the situation.

Woohyun gave into it in any case. “Uh, sure, wait one second,” he barked on last time and trotted around to the front of the shed, entering into a dog door that must’ve been there. A few second later, the door of the shed opened and Woohyun, now human, came out wearing a long puffy coat and boots. A thin smile drew pulled across his face as he pulled the hood over he head and shuffled over.

“Nice. Changing room?” Sunggyu asked as the other plopped down next to him again.

“Eung.” Woohyun nodded, and the hood moved. When it moved, Sunggyu could see flashes of his red collar which was still around his neck. Sunggyu laughed. _He’s really a dog. He can’t even tell that he’s wearing it_. Woohyun turned to face him, arching an eyebrow and wondering what he laughing at.

Sunggyu waved his hand and moved onto a different subject, “Is this what you do every night? You patrol around and eat things?”

“Not every night,” Woohyun answered, shaking his head. “I take shifts with my brother and my dad.”

“Oh.” Sunggyu nodded along. “Still seems tiring,” he commented.

“It is,” Woohyun admitted with a yawn. The werewolf yawned along with him, even more gaping. Woohyun chuckled and nudged him. “But once a month, I tell my dad that I’m tracking a werewolf. And I get to take a break.”

“Me?” Sunggyu pointed at himself.

“Eung,” Woohyun hummed, leaning against the other.

Sunggyu scoffed. “Ah, here I thought you actually liked playing with me, but you were just using me as an excuse,” he joked and then shot a glare at the other.

“No, I like it,” Woohyun responded, tugging at his sleeve. “I like playing with you. _Seriously_.”

Sunggyu felt his lips pull up into a smile and he couldn’t hold his glare anymore. He tapped the other on the arm, noticing Woohyun’s eyelids growing heavy (it was late and only getting later). Woohyun looked up at him. “Am I more fun as a wolf or a human?” Sunggyu asked in a quiet voice.

Woohyun chuckled as he faced forward. “Oh, that’s tough. I _really_ like teaching you new tricks,” he teased. He then glanced over and saw the werewolf pouting. “Both,” Woohyun answered. “Both sides of you are fun.”

Sunggyu squared up his shoulders, feeling proud. “Of course. I’m a fun guy,” he boasted. But then he soon slid back down to Woohyun’s level. It was warm, being so close to the other. And the night was cold and scary. But next to Samjokgu, Sunggyu was safe and warm.

“What about me?” Woohyun asked, tugging on Sunggyu’s sleeve again. “Is there a side of me you like better?” His smile turned more into a grimace, dipping down lowly on one side. “As Samjokgu, I’m scary, right? Weird looking?”

“No, it’s cute!” the werewolf immediately denied, staring at the other with a strong and steady gaze. “Samjokgu is cute.”

“And Nam Woohyun?”

Sunggyu scoffed. “Do you want me to say you’re cute too?”

“Yes,” Woohyun shamelessly answered. “Say I’m cute.”

“Nam Woohyun is cute too,” Sunggyu said the words like Woohyun wanted to, but he spoke them as if he were speaking to a baby. Sunggyu even scratched the other underneath the chin. Woohyun frowned and batted away the other’s hand. Sunggyu chuckled. “Both sides are cute,” he tried to make amends, but it seemed a little too late. Woohyun had already soured. Sunggyu sighed and rest his head back against the wall, raising his sights to the night sky. Last night had been the full moon and so the moon was not quite so full tonight, but it was still big and bright. Like this, on a warm but cool night, seeing it from a mountain, it was beautiful. “This is the first time that I’ve ever enjoyed the moon like this,” the werewolf remarked. His gaze dropped down to Woohyun who was staring right back up at him. “The moon. That’s the scariest thing for me. It’s not you. The moon controls my life, and it doesn’t even know it,” he sneered (jokingly) at the last comment. But his face soon warmed again as he turned to the moon again. “But, tonight, it’s pretty.”

“I hate this mountain,” Woohyun grumbled in response and wiggled a bit in his spot, moving closer. “Spirits are drawn to it. I see them everywhere.” Sunggyu dropped his gaze down to the other, and Woohyun was scanning the area much like he did when he was Samjokgu. But then Woohyun looked up at the moon. “But like this, it’s pretty,” he agreed and then smiled at the werewolf, who was now yawning and slowly sliding lower and lower down the wall. The both of them were practically laying down right now. “Do you want to stay over tonight?” Woohyun offered. “It’s late.”

Sunggyu nodded. “Sure, I’d like to stay and keep you company tonight.” Much like Woohyun had kept him company every full moon. Sunggyu was just returning the favor. He was returning the favor and snuggling in closer to Woohyun, slowly closing his eyes.

“I’d like that,” Woohyun whispered as the werewolf closed his eyes. “I’d like that a lot.”

* * *

“When did those two get so close?” Myungsoo asked as he stared at the two “rivals.” Sunggyu and Woohyun had stayed up all night, talking and chasing after ghosts (as it would turn out, Sunggyu wasn’t bad at spotting ghosts after he knew what to look for). And now the both of them were truly exhausted and out of energy, sleeping on their desks and sleeping on each other, limbs tucked underneath each other. It looked like two puppies cuddling with each other because that’s what it was essentially. Those two were just to sleeping dogs. And Myungsoo should just let them lie.

“Weren’t they always close?” Dongwoo remarked, walking up next to Myungsoo. “I thought they were best friends.”

Myungsoo screwed his face in confusion and turned towards the other. “Aren’t they rivals?” he asked.

“Isn’t that basically the same thing?” Dongwoo retorted. Myungsoo shrugged. Dongwoo shrugged right back, which made Myungsoo giggle and shrug more. And then those two left the rivals/best friends behind still shrugging (and shimming) as they made their way to their own desks.

And when they had left, Sunggyu woke up, slightly. He cracked his eyes open and checked his surroundings. He was in a daze and didn’t quite know where he was. But then he noticed that he was at school, he was at his desk, and he had been sleeping right next to (with) his rival who could kill him with a single bite. Sunggyu grinned sleepily and closed his eyes again, resting his chin on Woohyun’s warm back and falling back asleep.

Dogs can confess their feelings easily and without restraint. They’ll run up to the people that they like, wag their tails, and lick affectionately. Humans weren’t like that. For them, confessions took time, especially if they were two teenage boys who knew nothing about love. But they were quickly learning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't know what type of dog Samjokgu was supposed to be, or what it even looked like, so I choose a sapsali, which is a Korean breed AND a ghost-hunting dog. So it seemed to fit. It's cute. I want one, mostly because I don't want ghosts.
> 
> I also read somewhere that there were werewolf trials, people used to "test" if someone was a werewolf by cutting their skin and revealing the fur that was underneath. So that's were I got the idea from. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! I know it was a long one.


	5. Life is (hopefully not) the bubbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Can you please write about woogyu going to the aquarium for a date and sunggyu is scared of sharks but they HAVE to get through the shark tunnel to get to the jellyfish, which are sunggyu's favourite animals ;w; pretty please and thank you and ily <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the very VERY last minute, like this afternoon, I decided to make a Valentine's gift for you all because you are all my sweethearts! I do like all of you guys so so SO much! I appreciate you all reading all of my silly stories.
> 
> Speaking of silly...I'm sorry if this ended up being weird! But it's fluffy?
> 
> HAPPY V-DAY!!!! BE MINE!

“Why are we here?” Sunggyu asked as he took in the large building in front of him, eyes gliding over its curved sides, concrete and beams clashing against each other like waves in a storm. “What is it?”

“It’s an aquarium,” Woohyun answered as he pointed to the sign next to him. “I thought it would remind you of home.”

Sunggyu scoffed. “I’m pretty sure that I didn’t live in a glass tank.”

“Well, it’s as close as we’re ever going to get in Seoul,” there was an edge in Woohyun’s voice. He was frustrated. This wasn’t going how he planned it would. Sunggyu looked more apprehensive than excited. “We don’t have time to go to the beach.”

“We don’t even have time for this,” Sunggyu reminded him. “We have vocal lessons in the afternoon.”

“I know,” Woohyun grumbled. He looked over at the other, studying him for a moment or two (or three). Sunggyu was tired and currently yawning, showing the golden crowns of his teeth. And it wasn’t just because Woohyun dragged him out of bed early this morning to go on this excursion. Woohyun was just as tired too. The both of them were idol trainees, the first set of idol trainees that this company ever had, but that didn’t make the experience any less excruciating. If anything, there was more pressure on them to succeed and more chances for them to get sent home with their dreams crushed. And Woohyun had recently hit his breaking point…last week. But he still persevered on through, even though he was just going through the motions now without an ounce of heart in them. He was the one the felt like he was trapped inside a glass tank, always under observation, always scrutinized, never free. He just needed to break out for one day, swim in the deep waters before returning back to his trainee life.

And as for Sunggyu, if Woohyun was having a hard time, he knew that Sunggyu was having a worse time of things. He was the oldest now, after another trainee had departed from the company. And the realization that _he_ might be the leader of this idol group was slowly dawning on him. Woohyun would sometimes catch Sunggyu sitting in the corner of the room, knees to his chest, looking like Atlas with the weight of the heavens slowly pressing upon his shoulders. And of course there was the fact that Sunggyu wasn’t from anywhere near here and didn’t have the luxury to run back home like Woohyun did, whenever he needed an escape.

 _And that’s why we’re here._ “But we need a break,” Woohyun brought up.

“We do,” Sunggyu agreed with a heavy sigh as he started to walk up the sidewalk to the aquarium. “But…aren’t tickets to places like this expensive?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Woohyun tried to dismiss the elder’s worries, but it only showed on Sunggyu’s face all the more. The both of them didn’t have much money to begin with, and for most of the trainees, almost every cent they made was sent back to their parents. _But this is the price for freedom_ , Woohyun thought as he pulled the tickets out his pockets. He looked over to Sunggyu and forced a smile on his face. _And for making memories_. “Let’s just have fun.”

Sunggyu stared at the tickets as Woohyun handed them over to gain entry to the aquarium. “I should’ve bought the tickets, right? Because I’m older?”

“Oh, you’re getting a hang of how things work around here,” Woohyun praised as they stepped into the first exhibit.

“It’s like that where I’m from too,” Sunggyu remarked. “Stop acting like I’m from a different planet.” He walked up to the tank, watching a school of fish swim by. Woohyun’s eyes drifted over to the tank too _. It really feels like that sometimes_ , he refrained from saying. _You’re really from a different world than I am_.

“I’ll buy next time,” Sunggyu broke into his thoughts.

“Hyung, I expect you to pay for _every_ time after this,” Woohyun half-joked.

Sunggyu sighed, again. “I know,” he mumbled. His frown then deepened, and his eyebrows furrowed as he searched the tank. The fish were nowhere to be seen now, or at least they were nowhere near. They were all hiding behind the coral and foliage or at the back of the tank. “Where did they go?”

“It looks like they know who you are,” Woohyun replied. “And then they ran for cover.”

Sunggyu smiled sheepishly. “Probably,” he responded with a slight chuckle. He then reached over and tugged onto Woohyun’s sleeve. His eyes were darting around, seeing if any other human noticed this. “Let’s go before someone else sees.”

“Okay,” Woohyun gave in and allowed the other to tug him away from the tank. “What do you want to see?”

Sunggyu stopped in his tracks. He stepped in close to Woohyun, his shoulder knocking into the other, his eyes growing wide. “Do they have…jellyfish?” he whispered lowly so that no one else could hear (even though the only other people at the aquarium was an elderly couple that couldn’t care less about them).

“Yes,” Woohyun answered back in a whisper, grinning widely.

“Yes!” Sunggyu cheered. He then sprinted over to the tank on the other side of the room. The fish inside of it scurried away at his approach. The smile fell from Sunggyu’s face. “Oh they aren’t here.” He ran to the tank beside it. “They aren’t here either,” he said as several school of fish migrated to the back of the tank and eels hid in their caverns. Sunggyu then went back to the tank that he first looked into, which still looked empty. “Where are they?”

“Hyung,” Woohyun said as tugged on the other’s sleeve after walking up to his side. He couldn’t help but to laugh at the crestfallen expression on the other’s face. Sunggyu turned to face Woohyun, looking as if the other had betrayed him. But Woohyun’s grin just got bigger as he pointed through the tunnel that led to the rest of the aquarium. “The jellyfish are over there. We just have to walk through the shark tunnel.”

“Shark tunnel,” Sunggyu repeated in a small voice and his eyes stared down the tunnel, and then they flitted back to Woohyun. He gave a fake smile and tapped the other on the shoulder. “Well, this was fun. Let’s go home now. Don’t want to be late for our lesson. And you know, traffic…traffic is BAD. It might take forever to get back and…Oomf!”

Woohyun grabbed the back of Sunggyu’s sweatshirt as he tried to walk out of the exhibit. “Sunggyu, I didn’t pay almost half of my pocket money to watch you scare all of the fish away in this tiny room,” he spoke sternly.

Sunggyu turned around. “It’s Sunggyu- _hyung_ ,” he corrected the other.

“Fine, Sunggyu- _hyung_ ,” Woohyun relented, sort of. “Why are you being a coward, Sunggyu- _hyung_?”

“It’s not cowardice! It’s self preservation!” Sunggyu argued, loud enough to raise suspicion from the elderly couple. Sunggyu noticed and stepped closer to the other, dropping his voice, “I…I almost died. Be-because of a shark!”

“Yea right,” Woohyun retorted as he nudged the other. Sunggyu had told him some pretty unbelievable things before, and Woohyun believed them all. But this seemed a little far-fetched. “The other fish don’t even come near you.”

“Sharks are different,” Sunggyu hissed. “They are vile. They are mean. And…” he stopped, biting his lip as he stared down the tunnel as if he was looking down the entrance into the Underworld.

“And?” Woohyun prodded him.

Sunggyu’s gaze returned back onto the other. “Do you remember when I told you I had my appendix removed?” Woohyun nodded. “That’s not a surgical scar. That’s a shark bite.”

Woohyun burst into laughter, now shoving the other. “Eh, don’t lie!” he exclaimed.

“No, it’s true! Look!” Sunggyu commanded him as he lifted his shirt. But Woohyun’s eyes stayed on the other as he cocked his eyebrow. “Just look already! I’m getting cold!”

“Alright, alright,” Woohyun gave in and crouched down to get a good look at Sunggyu’s ‘bite.’ “Holy shit,” he cursed beneath his breath. It wasn’t a scar from stitches. Woohyun could see the indents of teeth deeply embedded in the other’s skin. “You weren’t kidding,” he muttered, reaching out to trace the scar.

But as his fingers brushed against the skin, Sunggyu jumped back and tugged down his shirt. “I said to look, not to touch,” he chided the younger.

“Sorry,” Woohyun apologized, standing up again. “But, hyung, these sharks are domesticated. They aren’t wild ones like you’re used to. They’ve probably already been fed today,” he reasoned.

“Are you sure?” Sunggyu challenged.

“No, but we’ll be protected by glass anyway,” Woohyun replied. But Sunggyu still didn’t look convinced. “Come on, hyung. Do it for the jellyfish. The jellyfish would want you to be brave.”

Sunggyu hung his head. “You’re right. They would,” he grumbled. Woohyun was stunned. _They would? I was just making shit up_. Sunggyu raised his head back up. “You’re coming with me, right?”

“Of course,” Woohyun responded with a sharp nod.

“Alright,” Sunggyu said as he walked up to the entrance of the tunnel. “I can do this.”

“Yes, you can,” Woohyun tried to urge him, but Sunggyu stayed rooted. “Come on, hyung. Just one little step.”

“I’m moving!” Sunggyu snapped back.

“No, you aren’t,” Woohyun said as he stepped right in front of the other, laughing.

“Well, of course, I can’t move now! You’re in the way,” Sunggyu argued right back.

“Right because little me is taking up this _whole_ tunnel. There’s no way you can _ever_ get around me. Look!” Woohyun exclaimed as he spread out like a starfish. The tips of his spread out arms weren’t even close to touching the sides of the tunnel. He laughed and then brought his arms and legs back in. “Let’s go,” Woohyun said and then began to walk down the tunnel by himself.

“Woo-woohyun! I thought you said we’d go together!” Sunggyu shouted down the tunnel.

Woohyun spun back to face the other, but kept walking. “Then come walk with me!” he shouted right back. Sunggyu lifted his foot, but then planted it back down. He took in a deep breath, closing his eyes tightly. “Come on!” Woohyun shouted again. At that, Sunggyu broke out into a sprint, hurtling right towards Woohyun. “Wh-what?”

“MOVE!” Sunggyu shouted.

“Huh?”

“Run!” Sunggyu yelled as he came up to Woohyun, grabbed his hand, and continued running. And it was as Sunggyu was spinning Woohyun back around when he saw it. Sharks, they were swimming right along side of them, pressed closely to the glass. Their mouths were wide open, showing rows and rows of sharp teeth.

“What?” Woohyun muttered. And then he caught sight of a hammerhead off in the distance, or it was distant. Now it was charging for the glass, aiming right at them. Woohyun picked up his pace and now was the one dragging the other. But Sunggyu wasn’t expecting the change in speed and missed his footing and stumbled into the other, making them both tumble out of the tunnel. Woohyun rolled away from Sunggyu and onto his back, panting heavily. “Man, you weren’t kidding,” he wheezed. “What just happened?”

“Natural…predators,” Sunggyu managed to get out between breaths and his face squished against the floor.

“Aish,” Woohyun cursed as he sat back up. “You know we have to go back through that thing to get out,” he pointed out and gestured down the tunnel.

“You were right,” Sunggyu muttered as he lifted himself off of the ground. “The glass protected us.” He smirked. “I might even taunt them when we go back down again.”

Woohyun cocked an eyebrow. “Do you have a death wish?” he asked with a scoff. “They were trying to eat you through the glass.”

“Okay you have a point,” Sunggyu gave in and averted his gaze from the other, feeling silly for having suggested it. But then his eyes caught something and his face lit up. “Oh!” he exclaimed as he scrambled onto his feet. When he got up, he scampered off to the other side of the room, leaving Woohyun behind.

“Hyung? Hyung?” Woohyun called out to him. “Where? Oh!” He saw it too, the hoards of the jellyfish, swirling about behind the glass. Woohyun grinned and got up to join the other. “They like you,” he remarked when he was at Sunggyu’s side again.

“Eung,” the elder hummed as he drug his fingers around in circles on the glass and a small jellyfish was chasing after it. “They do.”

“You really weren’t lying when you said that you had them as pets,” Woohyun muttered lowly, watching the jellyfish crowd over near Sunggyu’s side of the tank.

Sunggyu rolled his head over to look at the other with a warm smile. “Do I ever lie to you?”

“Yes.”

Sunggyu chuckled. “Right, but I’ve told you the truth about this stuff,” he amended.

“And I believed you,” Woohyun reminded him. Sure it was amazing that Sunggyu could share this stuff with him, but it was even more amazing that Woohyun believed it all. Sunggyu had to be reminded of that occasionally. This kind of trust couldn’t be found in just anybody.

“You did,” Sunggyu agreed. He was smiling wider now, but not at Woohyun. His focus was back on the jellyfish.

Woohyun chuckled. “Why do you like them so much?” he asked. “Aren’t they more deadly than sharks?”

“That’s why we kept them, to keep the sharks away,” Sunggyu answered. “Plus…aw,” he squealed as a jellyfish pressed itself against the glass. “Aren’t they so cute and squishy? I just want to squish them and love them.” He got closer to the glass. “Hello, little jelly! Hello! Hello!” he spoke in a baby voice as he tapped against the glass.

“DON’T TAP THE GLASS!” a voice boomed from the other side of the room. It was a security guard, that was now glaring at them menacingly.

“Oh, sorry,” Sunggyu apologized as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. He glanced over at Woohyun. “Do you think he knows?”

Woohyun shook his head. “I’m pretty sure he has no idea that you’re a mermaid. Oomf!”

“SH!” Sunggyu hissed, clamping his hand tightly over Woohyun’s mouth. “Shut up! He could hear!” He then removed his hand. “Besides it’s merman. I am a man!”

“Right, how could I forget?” Woohyun teased. That earned a nasty glare from Sunggyu, which gave Woohyun a strange sense of joy. He made a merman mad. He was friends with a merman. How many people could say that? Well, technically, Woohyun couldn’t say that to anybody. It had to be their little secret…well his and the rest of the trainees', but Sunggyu told Woohyun the most about his former merman life because Woohyun was the only one who really believed every word he said about it.

Was Woohyun gullible? Maybe. But Sunggyu spoke about that life with such conviction and honesty in his eyes, Woohyun _had_ to believe it. And then there was the fact that things like _this_ would happen which were pretty hard to explain (like the green scales still coating his feet and the webbing between his toes).

So Woohyun accepted that his hyung was a merman, but there were still some things that irked him about the whole situation. Sunggyu said that he became a human so that he could be a singer. Sure, Woohyun bought that, knowing how passionate his hyung could be about music. But how? How did it happen? Sunggyu had said he drank a magic potion from your everyday, run-of-the-mill witch. _That_ didn't add up.

“Hyung,” Woohyun called out to him.

“Hm? What is it, Hyun?” That was a good sign. Sunggyu seemed relaxed, open.

Woohyun kept his eyes fixed on the jellyfish as he spoke, “You know, I’ve read enough fairy tales to know that you don’t get opportunities like yours for free, so…” He glanced at the other out of the corner of his eye. “…what did you have to give up?” Sunggyu didn’t answer. He just hummed and continued to play with the jellyfish in front of him. But Woohyun didn’t give up. “Obviously, you’re not like the _Little Mermaid_. You still have your voice.”

“I do,” Sunggyu finally spoke. “It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like?” Woohyun retorted. This had been weighing on his mind ever since he found out the secret. “What did you have to give up? Your kingdom?”

Sunggyu scoffed. “It’s not even mine to give. I’m like 17th in line.”

“Then do you have to do something in order to stay human?” Woohyun changed the question. Sunggyu became silent again. “If you need a kiss, I can give you one.”

Sunggyu sputtered into a laugh. “No, that wasn’t the deal.”

“Then what was the deal?” Woohyun asked again, more impatiently. “There has to be a catch. There’s always a catch,” he insisted. “I don’t want you to turn into bubbles on me, hyung.”

Sunggyu looked up at the jellyfish longingly and then walked away from the tank. “I don’t know,” he mumbled as he walked passed the younger. Woohyun followed him to another large tank where a large variety of fish were swimming and some mammals and turtles too. There was a bench in front of it for people to sit and watch. Sunggyu was already sitting there and Woohyun slid in next to him.

“Woohyun, have you ever heard of the story of Eos and Tithonus?” he asked, when the younger had sat down.

“No.”

“Well,” Sunggyu squirmed in his spot as he tried to figure out how to tell the story. “Eos is the goddess of the dawn, and she fell in love with a mortal man named Tithonus. She asked Zeus to grant him immortality, and he did.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Woohyun interjected.

Sunggyu scoffed. “You’d think, but Eos asked for immortality and not for eternal youth to go along with it. So Tithonus kept aging and aging, and eventually Eos locked him up in a room, forever.”

“O-oh,” Woohyun stammered. “That’s not good, but…what does that have to do with you?”

“I don’t know,” Sunggyu muttered as he rubbed his tired face with his hands. “I just keep thinking about it.”

“Why?” Woohyun pressed. “There has to be a reason why.” He fixed a smile onto his face. “Do you need me to lock you up in a room forever?”

“No,” Sunggyu responded with a slight chuckle, becoming a bit more at ease. “It’s just that…Be careful what you wish for, right? I wished to become human so that I could be a singer, and I just keeping waiting for the other foot to drop.”

“The witch didn’t tell you anything?” Woohyun asked.

“Nothing!” Sunggyu replied with a loud voice, hands in the air. “Absolutely nothing!” Sunggyu let out a heavy sigh and turned back towards the tank. “All of this time, I’ve been wondering what I’ve given up in exchange, what caveat of my wish that I’ve overlooked.” Another sigh escaped his lips. “I don’t want to turn into bubbles either.”

“You can’t go see the witch?” Woohyun proposed.

Sunggyu shook his head. “She lives at the bottom of the ocean. I can’t go there anymore.”

“Then…” Woohyun held that word until he figured out how to end his sentence. “Then let’s figure out how your wish went wrong.”

“What?” Sunggyu asked with a surprised chuckle.

“First…I’m pretty sure that you didn’t plan on being an idol,” Woohyun suggested.

Sunggyu nodded. “Right,” he agreed. “I came here thinking that I could be in a band, and I ended up in an idol group.”

“They told me we’d be doing ballads, and now look at us,” Woohyun spoke with a laugh. “They’re trying to make _us_ dance.”

“I’ve had a tail for most of my life, what’s your excuse for being so bad at dancing?” Sunggyu teased.

“Yah, I’m a dance machine!” Woohyun played along. “I’ve improved a lot these past few months.”

“You have,” Sunggyu gave him that much. “But do you think it’ll be enough? When we debut?”

“I hope so,” Woohyun replied. “Do you think we’ll debut this year? I heard we might.”

“Eung, I did too. And I heard that they are planning on making a seven member team,” Sunggyu added.

“Seven?” Woohyun repeated with wide-eyes. “I thought it was just going to be the five of us.”

Sunggyu shook his head. “Nope, it’s going to be seven for sure now. They’re announcing it tomorrow.”

“Wow,” Woohyun muttered. “I bet you didn’t plan on leading a seven member idol group when you made your wish.”

“No, I did not,” Sunggyu replied. He then began laughing, softly at first but then it grew louder.

“What? What’s so funny?”

Sunggyu slapped the other on the back, still laughing. “You!” he answered as he wagged his finger at Woohyun. “You finally admitted that _I_ am the leader, not you.”

Woohyun frowned. “I was the first one recruited for the team,” he argued. “Besides unlike _some_ people, I’m human. That should be worth something.”

Sunggyu stopped laughing and stiffened. “I’m human now too.”

Woohyun patted the other’s thigh. “You are, you are,” he assured the former merman. Woohyun had forgotten how sensitive Sunggyu could be about the issue. Sunggyu wanted to be a merman, and he wanted to be a human at the same time. But he was really neither now. He was stuck in between _. For how long?_ Woohyun thought. He blinked hard and threw back his head, as his leg bounced in agitation. _Don’t become bubbles…don’t become bubbles…don’t go away._

“I got it,” Sunggyu interjected. Woohyun let his head roll back down and his eyes landed on the other. Sunggyu was already staring straight at him. “I know what I lost. I know what I gave up.”

“What?”

“My home.”

* * *

_Why are we here?_ Woohyun asked himself. Originally, he wanted to bring Sunggyu there to give him a taste of his home and his old life, but then they both ended up realizing that this was as close to home as Sunggyu would ever get. Woohyun’s stomach felt heavy as the walked through the rest of the aquarium. _Am I just torturing him now? Teasing him?_

 _Maybe not_ , Woohyun second guessed himself when he saw Sunggyu try to make conversation with the seals, and they actually barked back as if they knew what he was saying. At least Sunggyu was enjoying his time here. Woohyun was trying to, but that thought kept nagging at the back of his mind: this, all of this, Sunggyu gave up to pursue his dream. _What did I give up? I didn’t even leave the city_.

After running back through the shark tunnel, Woohyun asked as they were still catching their breath, “Do you regret it?

“Regret what?” Sunggyu wheezed.

“Your wish,” Woohyun replied.

Sunggyu shook his head. “Not one bit.” He took in a deep breath and stood up straight, hands on his hips as he was still breathing heavily. “Even if it didn’t end up like how I envisioned it, I don’t regret it at all.”

Woohyun smiled. “Good. I’m glad,” he responded and began to walk out of the exhibit into the lobby.

“What about you?” Sunggyu turned the question back around. “Do you regret it?” Woohyun scrunched his face in confusion, not knowing what the other was getting it. “You’ve changed almost as much as I have. You’re almost like a different person now. Now…you dance!” he joked, but there was a lot of truth in his words. Woohyun had changed, a lot. He used to be introverted, but soon he realized that way of life didn’t match well with an idol one. So he pushed himself out of his shell, said cocky things, even if he didn’t believe them. And now…he was even dancing, and was working hard at it.

“So far,” Woohyun began. “I don’t regret it either.”

“So far?” Sunggyu picked up on that.

The younger grinned sheepishly as he ducked out of the door. “I’m still nervous to see how this will all turn out,” he admitted once they were both outside. “I don’t know what will happen.”

“Me either,” Sunggyu concurred. “But even if we do end up failing, I still don’t think I’ll regret it.”

“Why is that?” Woohyun challenged, and Sunggyu just shrugged in response. Woohyun frowned. He didn’t like moments like this. Sunggyu was oh-so-chatty when it came to merman things, but when it came to _feelings_ , Sunggyu would clam up. _You can share more with me than your dumb fish stories, hyung_ , Woohyun tried to tell the other through his gaze, burning at the elder’s back. But Sunggyu just ignored it as he sat down at the bench near the bus stop.

“What was your favorite fish at the aquarium?” Sunggyu asked in order to break the silence.

“You,” Woohyun replied as he came down next to the other. Sunggyu watched him as he sat down, blinking. Woohyun forced a smile on his face, acting like he was joking.

“Eh,” Sunggyu finally muttered and reacted to the other’s ‘joke,’ giving Woohyun a light shove. “Mine was the jellyfish.”

“Of course,” Woohyun grumbled. He turned his head away from the other to look at the bus schedule. One would be arriving in the next ten minutes. They would arrive back in time for their lessons, just like he’d planned.

“Woohyun?”

“Hm?” Woohyun hummed as he turned to face the other. And right as he did, Sunggyu kissed him. It was short and fleeting, but soft, like a wave washing against the shoreline.

Sunggyu pulled away and cleared his throat. “Just eliminating that, you know. Now I won’t turn into bubbles because I haven’t kissed anyone,” he excused himself. He patted the other hardily on the back. “Thank you, Woohyunnie. Thanks to you, I’ll live,” he said, but he wasn’t even looking at Woohyun. But Woohyun was looking straight at him, seeing Sunggyu’s face slowly reddening. Sunggyu then pulled his arm away and then wrapped the both of them around his body.

Woohyun scoffed. _He’ll tell me all about the food that they used to eat under the sea, but he still won’t tell me he likes me? Even after he kisses me?_ A smile grew on his face and he threaded his arm through Sunggyu’s, hugging it tightly. _He’ll even let me do this without a fight_. In fact, Sunggyu loosened his hold to accommodate for the other’s arm, and his other hand gradually crept up to lay over Woohyun’s arm. _Eh, he likes me._

“Anytime, hyung. Anytime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's predebut woogyu, featuring idol-trainee/merman sunggyu and just-a-human-but-still-pretty-darn-special woohyun.
> 
> I honestly don't know how I came up with this idea.


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